Dir. Eric Bress & J Mackye Gruber, 2004, USA, 113 mins
Cast:
Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz
Dude, where's my karma? Evan Treborn (Kutcher, That 70s Show) finds he has the power to go back in time to key moments in his life. But by making different choices the second time around his actions have world-altering consequences.
Evan suffers from blackouts, a disturbing condition which also affected his father. Since a boy Evan has been plagued by episodes of 'lost time', some of which mask frightening events. His psychologist tells him to keep a journal as an aid to remembering these repressed memories - but it is years before they finally prove to be an aid to rediscovering the past.
At college Evan realises that by re-reading his journals he can be catapulted back to the events he has written about. But by making the smallest changes, he creates a whole alternate universe of existence. When Evan tries to save girlfriend Kayleigh (Smart, Roadtrip) from her paedophile father, he wakes up to find he has been 'reincarnated' as a callous rich kid. The people he thought were his friends are now strangers who are socially conditioned to hate him. Even worse, a tragic turn of events sees him in jail for murdering Kayleigh's brother.
The theory of the film's title states that if a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, the subsequent tiny movement of air particles can result in a hurricane on the other side of the world. This is what the film purports to examine - all the ways in which the course of one's life depends on minutiae; how saying yes rather than no when you were seven might affect whether you're a frat boy at 17, or a crack addict - or even whether you have both arms and legs.
It's an interesting idea, but whether it entirely works here is debatable. While the film starts promisingly with suggestions of a dark thriller it soon becomes apparent that, like co-writers/directors Bess and Gruber's Final Destination 2 (screenplay) this is just another teen movie. It's clear through the retro settings, the campus settings, the obligatory naked girls, sex, drug-use and alpha beta gamma whatnot. But what is most relevant about this film is its portrayal of contemporary society - selfish, fickle and faithless.
That's not to say this film isn't lots of fun. It's entertaining enough and the visual signification of the time shifts is particularly impressive. There are also decent performances - yes Kutcher can play it straight although one wonders (perhaps because of the script) whether it's not slightly tongue in cheek. His character's look though is oddly dated, mooring the film in the 1980s of Evan's childhood despite the film's attempt to give a cheeky nod to the trends of the decades in between. Eric Stoltz is suitably creepy as Kayleigh's father, and the rest of the cast has fun playing different versions of their characters.
If you enjoyed Final Destination you'll enjoy The Butterfly Effect. But if Donnie Darko is one of your all-time favourite films, you might want to give this a miss.
Ruth Bushi
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