---
title: "Donnie Darko"
year: 2001
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/donnie-darko"
fi1m_id: "donnie-darko"
imdb_id: "tt0246578"
tmdb_id: 141
wikidata_id: "Q426828"
fi1m_score: 83
critics_score: 77
critics_reviews: 15
published: "2026-09-18"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:25.712829+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Donnie Darko (2001)

Directed by Richard Kelly · 1h 54m · MPA R · Fantasy, Drama, Mystery

## Identity

Donnie Darko

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/donnie-darko
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** donnie-darko
- **IMDb ID:** tt0246578
- **TMDB ID:** 141
- **Wikidata ID:** Q426828
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/141, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q426828

**Fi1m score: 83** · Critics 77 from 15 reviews

*In a sentence:* The rabbit makes more sense than the adults, which is not reassuring

> Richard Kelly’s *Donnie Darko* is a funny, unsettling teenage drama whose science fiction occasionally becomes needlessly difficult. We recommend it for Jake Gyllenhaal, who keeps the distress believable even when the plot becomes hard to follow.

## Synopsis

In late-1980s American suburbia, troubled teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) faces a prediction that the world will end in 28 days, six hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Frank (James Duval), a prophetic rabbit, brings science fiction into an adolescence already marked by isolation and uncertainty. Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone) is part of the teenage world Donnie must navigate while trying to understand the prospect of catastrophe. He wants to make sense of what is happening to him, but the adults’ certainties offer little help. Ordinary suburban life continues as his fears acquire a deadline.

## Review

Richard Kelly makes the end of the world feel like a plausible extension of being a miserable teenager, and *Donnie Darko* is worth the occasional confusion that follows. He takes suburban adolescent unhappiness seriously without treating every adult as an idiot. The science fiction gives that unhappiness an alarming scale, though the plot sometimes asks us to follow more than it makes clear. What holds the film together is Jake Gyllenhaal, whose Donnie remains recognisably young even when the troubles surrounding him become cosmic.

His performance allows Donnie to be awkward, difficult and vulnerable without asking us to choose a single explanation for him. There is no demand that we find him charming. Gyllenhaal makes the teenage unease persist through the strange events, so there is a distressed person to care about while we try to work out what is happening. It matters that the film can also be funny: the suburban satire lets us laugh at some of the certainties Donnie cannot accept.

Frank, played by James Duval, is the risk that pays off. A prophetic rabbit is a difficult thing to put on screen without making the surrounding troubles look ridiculous. We were unnerved by the creature because its predictions take Donnie’s adolescent dread with such awful seriousness. Richard Kelly keeps the boy’s vulnerability in view, rather than letting the supernatural visitor turn the film into an elaborate joke.

Steven Poster’s cinematography helps by making the suburban setting look clear and familiar instead of obscuring it in portentous murk. Alec Hammond’s production design gives the fantasy somewhere ordinary to happen, and that contrast works. The late-1980s setting feels inhabited rather than displayed as a collection of period references. The soundtrack’s songs are especially useful here: they make the period feel like somebody’s youth, complete with pleasures the darker material might otherwise squeeze out.

Michael Andrews’s music supports the unease without making every stretch feel equally threatening. Editors Sam Bauer and Eric Strand have the difficult job of moving between teenage drama, suburban comedy and science fiction, and the shifts are mostly persuasive. The humour gives the anxious passages a useful break. At 114 minutes, the film has room for its changes of mood without making adolescent misery exhausting to sit through.

The difficulty is Richard Kelly’s writing about time travel, which can make it hard to tell which questions the film expects us to answer. Some uncertainty suits Donnie’s state of mind; some makes it harder to judge what matters. We do not need every mystery solved, but the film occasionally mistakes adding another question for making the existing ones more interesting. Its adults can also become convenient targets for satire, a simplification that sits awkwardly beside the care given to adolescent confusion.

Among coming-of-age films, this earns its place by allowing a young person’s distress to be frightening, embarrassing and funny within the same story. The fantasy is ambitious, and not all of it is equally well explained, but Gyllenhaal gives us enough reason to stay with Donnie. There is tenderness here that the rabbit and the countdown might not lead us to expect. See it for the troubled teenager, and resist the temptation to spend the whole evening taking notes.

*Fi1m score 83, published 18 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to Richard Kelly’s blend of teenage isolation, suburban satire and science fiction. Praise centres on Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance, the uncanny atmosphere and the recognisable adolescent awkwardness that grounds the stranger material. The reviews also value the film’s dry humour and depiction of 1980s suburbia, with its soundtrack and inventive photography drawing particular approval. Its emotional pull matters more to many critics than a fully explained plot.

Reservations concern how far that tolerance for confusion stretches. Several favourable reviews find the ideas more convincing than the storytelling, while the lone negative assessment, from The New York Times, sees the mixture of teen melodrama and magical realism as overreaching despite the cast and period setting. The different cuts also divide opinion: RogerEbert.com finds the director’s cut richer without requiring resolved mysteries, whereas Eye for Film argues that its explanations sacrifice mystery and trust in the audience.

## Straight answers

**Is Donnie Darko worth watching?**

*Donnie Darko* is worth watching, and we scored it 83, for anyone who can accept a teenage drama that turns into science fiction without always explaining itself. Jake Gyllenhaal keeps Donnie's distress believable even when the time-travel plot becomes hard to follow, and the suburban satire is funnier than the rabbit suggests. Viewers who need every mystery solved will be frustrated.

**How long is Donnie Darko, and what is it rated?**

*Donnie Darko* runs 1h 54m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a fantasy and drama film.

**Where can I watch Donnie Darko in the US?**

*Donnie Darko* is streaming on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi, The Roku Channel and Disney+ in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Donnie Darko, and is it suitable for children?**

*Donnie Darko* is a 15 in the UK and R-rated in the US, and it is unsettling rather than gory. The dread comes from Frank, a prophetic rabbit whose predictions we found unnerving, and from a troubled teenager's fear that the world is ending on a deadline. It is not for children, and younger teenagers may find the mood more distressing than any single scene.

**How does Donnie Darko compare to Thelma & Louise?**

*Donnie Darko* and [*Thelma & Louise*](https://film.one/film/thelma-and-louise) are both about outsiders whose fear pushes ordinary life towards something alarming, but they are different kinds of film. Richard Kelly's is a strange, sometimes confusing teenage fantasy held together by Jake Gyllenhaal; Ridley Scott's is a funny, angry road film about a friendship that Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis make entirely convincing. *Thelma & Louise* is the more assured of the two, and the one we would return to first.

**What should I watch after Donnie Darko?**

After *Donnie Darko*, try [*Thelma*](https://film.one/film/thelma-and-louise) (2017, Fi1m 85): Another young outsider whose fear makes the supernatural feel painfully close. Then [*Picnic at Hanging Rock*](https://film.one/film/picnic-at-hanging-rock) (1975, Fi1m 88): School-age unease and unexplained events, with even less interest in tidy answers; and [*The Truman Show*](https://film.one/film/the-truman-show) (1998, Fi1m 88): A gentler suburban nightmare, equally suspicious of reassuring faces and comfortable routines.

### Reviews we read (15)

- **Empire**, Alan Morrison (90/100, inferred): The review praises the film's bizarre suburban paranoia and apocalyptic teen angst, highlighting Jake Gyllenhaal's performance and the effective use of the 1980s soundtrack as marking the arrival of a bold new talent. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/donnie-darko-review/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Richard Kelly’s debut as a blazingly original, Lynchian evocation of adolescent angst and 1980s suburbia transformed into an apocalyptic vision. It singles out the inventive sci-fi metaphors for teenage confusion and the film’s haunting take on Reagan-era repression and uncertainty. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/donnie-darko/)
- **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film an audacious and frighteningly assured debut that vividly captures late-’80s suburbia through a personal mix of coming-of-age and science fiction. It singles out the dense, stylized amalgam of genres and influences that resists easy definition while satirizing Reagan-era hypocrisies. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/donnie-darko-1798192795)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Richard Kelly’s 2001 film on re-release is a captivating triumph that has matured well, with stronger political and satirical elements than first apparent in its suburban paranoia tale. The critic singles out the tremendous discovery of young Jake Gyllenhaal and the film’s blend of influences like Back to the Future and Twin Peaks. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/22/donnie-darko-review-jake-gyllenhaal-richard-kelly)
- **Sight and Sound**, Leslie Felperin (80/100, inferred): The film is a cult movie in the making thanks to its uncanny atmosphere and intricate web of secretly connected details. The critic praises its distinctive texture that mixes multiple genres without settling in any one, along with its dry realism in depicting suburban life. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/1575)
- **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): This is an intelligent and enchanting reissue of Kelly’s emotionally resonant drama. The critic singles out the jukebox soundtrack and crisp, inventive photography as memorable elements that help make a bleak story of adolescent mental illness funny and entertaining. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/london/film/donnie-darko)
- **Vulture** (80/100, inferred): The piece revisits the film as a well-made, well-acted, and imaginative cult classic that inflates pubescent angst into an apocalyptic experience. It singles out the still-effective weirdness and resonance of the ending as a time-travel mind-twister and commentary on American suburbia. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/donnie-darko-ending.html)
- **Financial Times**, Nigel Andrews (70/100, inferred): The cult 2001 film returns in revival as a sci-fi/horror noir about a troubled teen, essentially Harvey from Hell, with a variable but life-like script. It praises the strong indie cast including Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/b3c7bfaa-cdc8-11e6-864f-20dcb35cede2)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (70/100, inferred): The 4K restoration highlights the film's enduring power as a strange, melancholy debut that captures youthful alienation, suburban malaise, and cosmic upheaval with remarkable control and feeling. Chang notes its prescient timing and reverence for 1980s cultural touchstones. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-donnie-darko-review-20170330-htmlstory.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (70/100, inferred): The director's cut enriches the original without resolving its mysteries, making the film more engaging by embracing its paradoxes of time travel and a prescient rabbit. Ebert praises the tone, characters, and originality over logical closure. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/donnie-darko-the-directors-cut-2004)
- **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an engaging, dreamlike mix of genres with strong performances, especially from Jake Gyllenhaal, but notes that its ambitious ideas sometimes outrun its coherence as a first feature. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/donnie-darko-15-141042.html)
- **The New York Times**, Elvis Mitchell (30/100, inferred): The film tries to blend John Hughes-style teen melodrama with magical realism but succumbs to overreaching into the protagonist's troubled mind, resulting in an unsatisfying experience despite strong elements like the cast and period setting. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/26/movies/film-review-sure-he-has-a-6-foot-rabbit-does-that-mean-he-s-crazy.html)
- **Collider**, Scott Wampler (A-): The critic considers Donnie Darko a nearly instant cult classic and Richard Kelly's best film, praising its endlessly rewatchable plot, quirky tone, and star-making performance by Jake Gyllenhaal. He prefers the original cut over the director's cut and notes its strong appeal for repeat viewings despite later Kelly films falling short. [Read](https://collider.com/donnie-darko-10th-anniversary-edition-blu-ray-review/)
- **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (85/100, inferred): The critic views Donnie Darko as a much-loved cult film that excels as a study of teenage isolation and outsider experiences in suburban America. They single out the honest, nuanced depiction of characters and everyday adolescent awkwardness for particular praise, noting how it grounds the sci-fi elements. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/donnie-darkos-perfect-study-of-teenage-isolation/)
- **Eye for Film**, Rory Ford (75/100, inferred): The director's cut answers questions left by the original but loses some of its mystery and trust in the audience. It remains rewarding as a strong evocation of adolescence, with excellent photography, casting and direction. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/donnie-darko-the-directors-cut-film-review-by-rory-ford)

## Details

- **Director:** Richard Kelly
- **Director:** Richard Kelly
- **Writer:** Richard Kelly
- **Cinematography:** Steven Poster
- **Editor:** Sam Bauer, Eric Strand
- **Music:** Michael Andrews
- **Production design:** Alec Hammond
- **Costume design:** April Ferry
- **Producer:** Adam Fields, Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen
- **Cast:** Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko; Jena Malone as Gretchen Ross; James Duval as Frank; Drew Barrymore as Karen Pomeroy; Beth Grant as Kitty Farmer; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Elizabeth Darko; Mary McDonnell as Rose Darko; Holmes Osborne as Eddie Darko
- **Runtime:** 1h 54m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 26 October 2001
- **Genres:** Fantasy, Drama, Mystery
- **Budget:** $4 million
- **Box office:** $8 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71RaE7JYTUU

## Where to watch in the US

- Hulu: streaming, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Peacock: streaming, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: free
- Tubi: free, hd
- The Roku Channel: free, hd
- Peacock: free, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Disney+: add-on, hd

*Checked 2026-09-18.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, MX, NZ, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Thelma* (2017), Fi1m 85: Another young outsider whose fear makes the supernatural feel painfully close. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/thelma-and-louise.md)
- *Picnic at Hanging Rock* (1975), Fi1m 88: School-age unease and unexplained events, with even less interest in tidy answers. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/picnic-at-hanging-rock.md)
- *The Truman Show* (1998), Fi1m 88: A gentler suburban nightmare, equally suspicious of reassuring faces and comfortable routines. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-truman-show.md)
- *The Spirit of the Beehive* (1973), Fi1m 87: A child’s encounter with frightening fiction becomes a searching study of loneliness. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-spirit-of-the-beehive.md)
- *A Matter of Life and Death* (1946), Fi1m 92: Romance and cosmic bureaucracy, handled with more warmth and a lighter touch. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/donnie-darko