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1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished

August 12, 2025/ 45 min/ Brian Raftery

Episode one of Brian Raftery's Bush-era series pairs two suburban-teen movies from either side of the turn from 2000 to 2001: Peyton Reed's 'Bring It On,' the $11M cheerleading comedy Jessica Bendinger spent years and roughly 30 pitches getting made, and Richard Kelly's 'Donnie Darko,' the $4.5M debut that grossed half a million dollars weeks after 9/11 and became the decade's first midnight movie. Raftery reads them as the how-it-started, how-it's-going of post-Y2K America.

2 films across 2 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

‘Bring It On’the last carefree blip before 9/11

Bring It On poster

Bring It On 2000

Peyton Reed's $11M cheerleading comedy, written by former Spin hip-hop journalist Jessica Bendinger, who pitched it around Hollywood nearly 30 times (one executive told her 'girls don't go to movies') before Universal bought it. It was called 'Cheer Fever,' then 'Made You Look,' then 'Bring It On' after a studio study found 59% of teens considered cheerleading uncool; the trailer ran over Aqua's 'Happy Boys and Girls.' Kirsten Dunst plays Torrance, leader of the wealthy, all-white San Diego Toros, caught lifting routines from the Black L.A. squad the Clovers, led by Gabrielle Union's Isis; Ian Roberts plays choreographer Sparky Palastri. It opened at No. 1, held for three weeks, and grossed nearly $70M, one of the most successful high school movies ever. Raftery uses its sunny, can-do spirit as a stand-in for the brief post-Y2K peak of American optimism.

‘Donnie Darko’the dread that followed

Donnie Darko poster

Donnie Darko 2001

Richard Kelly's $4.5M debut, shot in 28 days. Producer Adam Fields, a veteran of John Hughes' 'Sixteen Candles' and 'The Breakfast Club,' got a food-stained, well-traveled script and gambled on letting the 20-something Kelly direct his own screenplay. Kelly, raised in Richmond, Virginia, built it around a story he'd heard about a chunk of ice falling from a plane into a boy's empty bedroom. Drew Barrymore co-produced and took a supporting role. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Donnie, a suburban teen in the fall of 1988 who meets a man in a rabbit suit counting down to the end of the world after a jet engine destroys his bedroom; Jena Malone plays Gretchen. It premiered at Sundance the day Bush was sworn in, left without a distributor, and grossed barely $500K when it opened weeks after 9/11, then became the decade's first midnight movie and an early piece of 'subreddit cinema.'

Also mentioned raised along the way

The 2000 optimism Erin BrockovichRemember the TitansCast AwayMeet the ParentsGladiatorWhat Lies BeneathUnbreakable

Universal's 2000 franchise slate How the Grinch Stole ChristmasThe Flintstones in Viva Rock VegasNutty Professor II: The Klumps

The teen-movie lineage GreaseRisky BusinessFast Times at Ridgemont HighRock 'n' Roll High SchoolSixteen CandlesThe Breakfast ClubAmerican Pie10 Things I Hate About YouShe's All That

The '90s indie wave Sex, Lies, and VideotapeEl MariachiThe Blair Witch ProjectPiClerksWelcome to the Dollhouse

In passing Austin Powers: International Man of MysteryI Know What You Did Last SummerRequiem for a DreamRomeo + JulietTitanicZoolanderSerendipity25th HourMichael ClaytonAnchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV The Twilight ZoneSurvivor

Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition

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