Most movies with cosmic overtones can be divided into the Destiny and Random camps. The Destiny theory goes like this: Timmy and Sally can travel to opposite ends of the Earth, lose each other’s phone numbers and be stricken with amnesia, but if they’re fated to be together, that’s where they’ll wind up.
Then there’s the Random school, in which the future not only isn’t pre-determined, but even the tiniest action can have a cataclysmic impact. So we get movies like “Run Lola Run” and “Sliding Doors,” in which the lead characters’ lives are radically altered by a few seconds’ timing–and now “The Butterfly Effect,” in which all hell keeps breaking loose for poor Ashton Kutcher.
The title refers to the cornerstone of Chaos Theory: The breeze generated by a butterfly wing can trigger a cyclone halfway around the world. But the fate-changing events here are much darker and more profound than mere insect flapping.
Evan–played by Kutcher as a young adult, John Patrick Amedori at age 13 and Logan Lerman at 7–has lived through a childhood punctuated by mysterious blackouts. These spells, from which he emerges with no immediate memory, tend to coincide with tumultuous events.
When college-student Evan discovers his old journals, he finds that if he reads the entry coinciding to a blackout, he somehow becomes transported to that moment. For the first time he can consciously experience events previously buried in his psyche.
But he also can take different actions than he did at the time, and anyone who’s ever seen a time-travel movie knows that when you mess with the past, you give the present and future a serious case of the goofies.
The directorial debut of screenwriters Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber (“Final Destination 2”), “The Butterfly Effect” is skillfully done, as far as these things go. Like last year’s “Identity” and, to a lesser extent, “Gothika,” the new movie manages to mess with your mind even when you’re anticipating the twists.
“The Butterfly Effect” also shares some kinship with “The Sixth Sense” in the way it works the supernatural into a serious-minded portrayal of childhood traumas. But “The Sixth Sense,” for all of its musings on untimely death, was highly enjoyable. Aside from this movie’s switcheroos, it’s hard to pinpoint the entertainment value here.
See, Evan’s childhood as originally lived apparently boasted multiple Stephen King novels’ worth of horrors. Setting off a homicidal mail bomb, being coerced to perform kiddie porn, incinerating a live dog, fending off psychopathic friends–we’re talking screwed-up memories worth repressing.
These events have had major repercussions for Evan’s childhood pals: his almost-girlfriend Kayleigh (Amy Smart), her rage-filled brother Tommy (William Lee Scott) and the quiet, brooding Lenny (Elden Henson). Yet when Evan travels back to alter his–and consequently their–fate, the new reality, believe it or not, often turns out for the worse.
It’s as if you rewound time to allow Moises Alou to catch that foul ball in Game 6 only to see him break his arm while the rest of the team spontaneously combusts.
Kutcher delivers a credibly serious performance as Evan, and he’s surrounded by a skilled supporting cast, with Smart, Scott and Henson deftly portraying their characters’ wildly shifting realities and Melora Walters providing grounding as Evan’s mom. Ethan Suplee also makes a strong impression as Evan’s oversized, sexually active goth roommate Thumper, while Eric Stoltz turns in another of his creep jobs.
But able execution goes only so far when you’re dealing with such time-tested material as time travel, especially when the variation on the theme is so generally unpleasant. If you could experience “The Butterfly Effect” all over again, would it be worth it? Not quite.
`The Butterfly Effect’
(star)(star) 1/2
Written and directed by Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber; photographed by Matthew F. Leonetti; edited by Peter Amundson; production designed by Douglas Higgins; music by Michael Suby; produced by Chris Bender, A.J. Dix, Anthony Rhulen, J.C. Spink. A New Line Cinema release; opens Friday. Running time: 1:53. MPAA rating: R (violence, sexual content, language, brief drug use).
Evan ……….. Ashton Kutcher
Andrea ……… Melora Walters
Kayleigh ……. Amy Smart
Lenny ………. Elden Henson
Tommy ………. William Lee
Scott Thumper .. Ethan Suplee
