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Some films feel important, as if they have a purpose or a message, several even from this year. Unfortunately, The Butterfly Effect just thinks it's important and has a message to tell. Donnie Darko is a film that many of The Butterfly Effect's supporters have compared it to...however, Donnie Darko really was important and felt like it served a purpose, and had everything that this one lacks: Good direction, good acting, good script; in a nutshell, quality. The Butterfly Effect has several interesting ideas, and entertains them in the best fashion that it can; a bumbling, inept fashion. It talks of chaos theory by way of time travel, but the film seems to be more focused on how pretty Ashton Kutcher's hair looks than any lapses in logic, which it does have many. The half-baked plot concerns a college student named Evan Treborn (Kutcher), who has grown up experiencing blackouts during the traumatic events in his life. When he was around 13 years old, he moved to a new neighborhood, promising his girlfriend Kayleigh Miller (Amy Smart) that he'd be back for her. However, when he does, he comes back with a supernatural way of recovering those lost memories...thus he tells Kayleigh that he thinks her dad (Eric Stoltz) filmed them in a nude sex play when they were younger. That was a big mistake, as Kayleigh winds up killing herself that night. Evan, heartbroken and stunned, travels back in his past through that funky memory recollection mentioned above to fix the error, and ends up giving her a future worse than death. This leads Evan to go on a wild trip through time and his totally messed-up mind trying to find some way that he can make both of their lives end up happily. Like that'll ever happen. Give it up, Evan; at least when you made her a hooker, you could get a few minutes of happiness, instead of a whole life. God, you can't have everything. J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress, the screenwriters and directors of The Butterfly Effect, are the writers of Final Destination 2, which I will admit I haven't seen. But still. Final Destination 2, people. Gruber and Bress seem to know what they're doing, but that still doesn't mean that they're doing it well. Though their directorial abilities are not "bad," per se, they are not great, and their writing certainly leaves much to be desired. At times when they obviously felt they were being chilling or shocking, they're really just kind of dull and maybe laughable. There are several unintentionally hilarious moments; for one, when Evan wakes up with no arms. Instead of saying, "Oh my God, how horrible!", you'll be rolling with laughter at Kutcher's embarrassing reaction. The cinematography, however, is exceptional, and looks really excellent. Even in the film's most uninspired bit, the scene being displayed is an eyeful, even if that eye is full of Ashton Kutcher. The Butterfly Effect has unique thoughts and visuals, but just doesn't manage to cut it. The only reason that The Butterfly Effect is not a complete waste of time is because there is a small spark that is easily recognizable, it's just that it doesn't set off a fuse of any kind. As for the acting, well, there are no new discoveries. Ashton Kutcher still can't act worth a darn, even if he does have a full and manly beard, and if he's not playing some completely moronic idiot. From day one, even before he became a newfangled teen sensation, I could tell that he didn't have any talent. Just watching one episode of the hideous That 70's Show would tell you that, not to mention five minutes of Punk'd. None of the other actors are worth mentioning, except for maybe Eric Stoltz, and his appearance here just made me sad. The Butterfly Effect is not the thought-provoking art film it wants you to think it is. Instead, it much reminded me of an MTV video: Rushed, confused, choppy, and annoying. email this review to a friend
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