Haven't seen it since it came out.
Donnie is instantly a bit of an annoying cliché (he even occasionally pulls a weird zoned out face because that's what crazy people do.) He's just so dark and moody isn't he? The dialogue, like with the 'go suck a fuck', around the table was juvenile and didn't fit into the average suburban setting at all. You won't find any naturalism here. A lot of the dialogue is just annoying teens being dicks. Maybe they've watched too much Tarrantino or maybe the writer of the movie did? It rambles.
So we watch flat characters wander around in this world for a while until something obviously creepy happens for the sake of it and then it's back to tarrantino light for dialogue filler. It's not especially interesting to look at either. For a movie that's apparently deep (do smurfs have dicks) not is explored within the themes or characters. Themes are replayed over and over again like the fear one. And what does it say about fear? Just that it's fear. Or maybe its more than that but... nah let's just leave it at that because Donnie had his rebellious teen rant about fear and that's what really matters. That's what this movie essentially is... a teen rant. Sometimes they talk about mom and school. Y'know deep shit. Then it'll touch on a bad science or talk about time travel to try and create some depth with the Darko theory. That's the teen science audience pleased also and the depth sorted then...
How this is considered thought provoking is truly bizzare.
Donnie apparently has daylight hallucinations. These are mild usually. Donnie is obviously a lot crazier then that. A lot. He'd never be able to control his schizophrenia like he does. Or he just happens to have episodes at the right time. And the bunny. Awful.
Feels like a contrived cult movie too. It takes elements that it knows will elevate the movie to a level of adoration and plays them out fully. Edgy kid character. Cool retro soundtrack. Trashy cool dialogue. Darkness. Pretentiousness. Being relatable to 'damaged teens'. It's a pure adolescent movie and a movie for people to put on the movie CV to look like they get it. Not scary either. I'm suprised Netflix hasn't made a Donnie Darko series yet?