Donnie Darko / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: Karen Pomeroy gets fired for no apparent reason beyond Kitty Farmer's influence. Is it the books she used in class that counted against her? Or was it her behaviour in class, such as telling the new girl to sit next to "which boy is the cutest" (which, although Gretchen wasn't bothered by it, could be potentially humiliating) and encouraging her students to read books the school has banned (but this is just in the Director's Cut).
Broken Base: Theatrical or director's cut...? Longtime fans tend to prefer the more ambiguous theatrical version, but newcomers find the director's cut more accessible precisely due to its more concrete lore. Others just can't get over The Killing Moon being replaced with Never Tear Us Apart.
Covered Up: "Mad World", which is played over the credits. That version is sung by Gary Jules, doing a cover, causing many people not born in The '80s to think he is the original artist, rather than Tears for Fears.
Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Go to any fan forum and ask "what was the film about". The number of interpretations given will be greater than or equal to number of members of the forum.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While the film did dismal business in American theaters, it became a Sleeper Hit in the UK; an article in The Guardian upon the release of the director's cut claims that said success cemented its cult status. There is a documentary on the Director's Cut DVD all about its popularity in Britain.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Jena Malone stars in a Mind Screw of a film, featuring mental illness, with strong themes about self-sacrifice and appears to die but is alive by the end. Are we talking about Donnie Darko or Sucker Punch? Both Gretchen and Baby Doll have murderous stepfathers (although Jena does not play Baby Doll).
- At the beginning of the film where Donnie arrives home, his mom is looking at him as if to say, "and just where have you been?" with a book in her hand. Considering the story of the 2017 film starts in October 1988, it seems almost fitting that Donnie's mom is reading It.
- One of the problems Donnie has in this movie is hallucinating things that are ambiguous if they are real or not. Come the release of 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jake Gyllenhaal would end up portraying a character who creates illusions and hallucinations that cause real-world damage. Gretchen's comment about how Donnie Darko sounds like a superhero name also becomes pretty funny given that Mysterio's objective in Far From Home is to stage fake attacks by the supposed Elementals to convince the world that he will be the next biggest superhero.
- A meta example. Richard Kelly faced the studio trying to get him to drop The '80s setting, making it more contemporary. He personally chose to set it in the 80s because he felt it was rarely portrayed in fiction of the time. The 2010s would become notable for the sheer amount of 80s-set works, popularized by Stranger Things. It looks like he was ahead of the trend. What's more is that Rose Darko is seen reading IT (see above), which had its past portions set in the 50s, but the 2017 film changed it to the 80s.
Love to Hate: Kitty Farmer is played by Beth Grant, leaning into the 'pompous conservative old lady' persona to glorious effect.
Magnificent Bastard: Upon becoming a member of the manipulated dead, Franklin "Frank" Anderson, Jr.—otherwise known as Frank the Rabbit—spends a duration of the film orchestrating ensurance traps to ensnare the Living Receiver Donnie Darko into returning the jet engine to the primary universe. Beginning his plan by saving Donnie from getting crushed to death, Frank coerces Donnie to flood his high school and subsequently burn the house of self-help guru Jim Cunningham, exposing him as a pedophile. As a final push, Frank runs over and kills Gretchen Ross, spurring an enraged Donnie into using his powers to intercept the jet engine and creating a portal to the primary universe to meet his fate.
Memetic Mutation:
- "Sometimes, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!" (Middle-school dance troupes are Serious Business.) Popular with those making fun of The Twilight Saga's sparkling vampires.
- "Chut up!"
Misaimed Fandom: The film is frequently labeled, for better and worse, by emos and emo-haters, as one of the most emo films of all time (you can blame IMDB's former forums for the labeling). It's actually a massive deconstruction, especially the Director's Cut.
Narm Charm: Donnie and Gretchen's First Kiss. Yes, it's utterly ridiculous to see them suck face after the latter had just been mocked by two jackass students for her familial troubles, but the fact that it's so passionate and genuine makes it all the sweeter.
Padding: Most of Cherita's scenes. They're not even that crazy in terms of event, they just stick out as odd interludes and barely affect the plot at all.
Questionable Casting: Narrowly averted; the studio's ideas about the casting of Donnie included Mark Wahlberg (who was already thirty) and Vince Vaughn (who was already thirty, and didn't look eighteen even when he was eighteen).
Realism-Induced Horror: There's a lot of weird supernatural horrors involving Frank and timelines...and then you have Jim Cunningham, the motivational speaker who visits the local high school as part of his work, which is not a good thing because he's also a pedophile with a stash of child pornography.
Retroactive Recognition:
- Seth Rogen makes his film debut as Ricky Danforth.
- Two of the three kids who ask a question during Cunningham's assembly are Ashley Tisdale, and right after her Jerry Trainor of Drake & Josh and iCarly fame.
Signature Scene: The scene of Donnie, Gretchen, and Frank sitting in the theatre watching The Evil Dead is considered the most iconic scene in the movie, with screenshots from it frequently used in articles discussing the movie.
Spiritual Adaptation: Often seen as one to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, due to the shared setting of a pre-apocalyptic parallel universe centered around a masked antagonist. The most obvious connection, however, is the bumper cards – both follow the same "Day: X Days/Hours Remain" format.
Stoic Woobie: Gretchen is remarkably non-angsty when detailing the fact that she's in witness protection because her stepfather stabbed her mother four times. She does get affected when she's bullied for it in class, proving she's Not So Stoic.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The Director's Cut gets a lot of flak for replacing the opening song The Killing Moon with Never Tear Us Apart. Never mind the fact that the only reason the theatrical cut didn't open with the latter was that Kelly couldn't secure the rights for the song at the time. Furthermore, The Killing Moon was not actually removed from the Director's Cut – the song is played in its originally intended sequence towards the end of the film, where it arguably packs an even greater punch.
Tough Act to Follow: Richard Kelly started his career with this cult-favorite. His next big move: Southland Tales, which did so terribly with both critics and the public that Hollywood ran his Auteur License through a shredder. (Domino came before Southland, but Kelly was only screenwriter on it, not director.)
Vindicated by History: Did poorly in theaters, largely because it debuted about a month after the September 11 attacks, ^note but did well abroad and on DVD and is now a Cult Classic.
The Woobie:
- Donnie has a lifetime of mental illness and is seen as weird and off-putting because of this. Jake Gyllenhaal specifically chose to make Donnie's normal speaking voice sound like "a child talking to its blanket" to emphasize how he really is just a scared kid with no clue of what's going around him. He then has to accept that he must die to prevent the world from ending, after having witnessed the girlfriend he loves dying.
- Cherita is bullied even more than Donnie, and made fun of for her mild speech impediment, as well as her weight. She doesn't appear to have any friends and is later revealed to be nursing an unrequited crush on Donnie. The latter even feels compelled to tell her that things will be better for her one day.

YMMV / Donnie Darko

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