The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect takes a neat time travel idea and executes it in an absurdly horrendous manner. There is so much sleaze and scum scattered throughout the screenplay by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress, that I felt like I needed a shower after watching it. That 70s Show star Ashton Kutcher plays Evan, a troubled young man struggling to get over childhood memories so painful that he has blocked them out. To help cope with this problem, his doctor suggests that Evan keep a journal to help piece together his life. After his childhood love Kayleigh (Amy Smart) commits suicide, Evan discovers that he is able to use his writings to travel back through time and change tragic events in his life. But changing the past has an almost tragic effect on the future. For everything he changes, something else is altered. For example, save Kayleigh, get involved in an altercation that leads to jail. Save yourself and cause tragic turns for other childhood friends. The premise is enticing and the options are endless. Perhaps thats what makes The Butterfly Effect so frustrating. The script asks Evan to change some disturbing events, including child pornography and the murder of a woman and her baby. Its as if Butterfly has channeled a really bad horror film, which results in a lot of uncomfortable moments. And by the time Evan travels back to change the murder, the film takes an unintentionally comedic turn that is made even more uneasy by all the slime and sludge that the audience has waded through by that point. Kutcher has basically stuck to comedies until now and honestly doesnt come across as terrible here. The problem is that by the time he does get on the screen, the audience has already seen 20 minutes of prologue that just kills the film. Smart is pretty good as Kayleigh and does get to showcase some talent, since we see several versions of her character from preppy sorority girl to drugged out hooker. At least Smart gets to do more than Melora Walters (Magnolia) as Evans mother. Walters is one of my favorite character actresses, but gets saddled with a role so shallow that even her talents cant save it. But none of that matters because Bress and Gruber, who also wrote last years dreadful Final Destination 2 are more concerned with disgusting the audience instead of challenging them. In the end, I found myself wishing I could block out things too, because the first thing I would do would be to forget that The Butterfly Effect ever existed.