The Butterfly Effect (2004)
"The Butterfly Effect" is a movie
that thinks facial hair is acting.
I really wanted to like this movie
and, in fact, often found it engrossing, but when
all is said and done, it really is a good idea turned
into a dumb Hollywood film by the machine that spits
out actors like Ashton Kutcher who are more about
image than talent. There are kernels of ideas here
that might add up to a decent film if writers/directors
Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber didn't obviously have
their hands tied by a idiotic Hollywood system that
insists on happy endings and hot superstars in lead
roles. It's not really surprising that two guys share
a directing credit here because, without a doubt,
"The Butterfly Effect" is a film by committee.
Kutcher is horribly miscast here.
He spends much of the film mumbling as if this was
the only idea he could come up with to differentiate
this character from his "That 70's Show" hottie. Sure,
the character of Evan is supposed to be smart and
Kutcher is indeed a college grad with a major in some
sort of scientific field, but he doesn't know how
to bring anything new to his character here, so he
mumbles. He doesn't know how to "act" an intelligent
guy, so he mumbles. It's really lame.
Sadly, the young actors hired to
portray Kutcher's character at 7 and 13, while both
amazingly remarkably similar looking to the TV star,
have about as much talent as Kutcher as well. We often
wince as they try to emote complex emotions, deliver
complicated lines, say words like "Fuckbag" as if
that were natural, and smoke cigarettes attempting
to look like "cool," bad, troubled teens that they
obviously are not. Facial hair and cigarette smoking
both pose for character arc and talent here.
Certainly the directors do a fine
job in other areas. This film always looks gritty
and amazingly realistic when it is supposed to, sharp
and vibrant when that is called for, and yet it still
maintains a momentum and a cohesion. Kutcher's stint
in prison is perhaps the best part of the movie, even
if it borders on typical homophobic crap. (We're actually
concerned for his anal and oral virginity). Then again,
it doesn't help matters that the plot contrivance
that lands him in prison is one of the most ridiculous
and impossible moments in any film of any time.
There's an opportunity to end this
film in a sequence where, perhaps, Evan could have
learned something and the film could have made a point
about the nature of true love. Close to the end of
the film, Evan has given everything for love and the
object of his desire is happy in the arms of someone
else. The film could have ended perfectly here with
the message being that if you truly love someone,
sometimes you have to sacrifice everything just to
see that person happy without you. But instead we
are treated to yet another trip into la-la-land of
Hollywood Script writing 101 where all the loose ends
are tied up all nicely at the end and everyone ends
up happy. What a bummer.
The "Butterfly Effect," part of
the Chaos Theory, says that even the single flap of
a butterfly's wings might be the cause of a monsoon
on the other side of the planet. The "Hollywood Effect"
says that even ignorant notes from a studio snot-nose
on the best of scripts will render it utterly useless
and trivial. This film seems to be the perfect example
of that theory come true with disastrous results.
Note:
Also with Amy Smart, Elden Hensen,
Ethan Suplee, Eric Stoltz, and Melora Walters.
It is rumored that Cameron Crowe
was thinking of casting Kutcher in his next film,
"Elizabethtown," but discontinued talks with the actor
after he saw this film.
Seann Williams Scott turned down
Kutcher's role.
Viewed in Austin in January 2004
with my roomie Amanda.
