The filmmaking industry has slowly begun to realize that if it wants to keep people coming to psychological suspense movies, it must disarm the audience’s expectations of sophomoric catch phrases and the-bad-guy-is-around-the-corner climaxes. Lately, mind-manipulating thrillers have avoided predictable story developments. And “The Butterfly Effect” is no exception.
Written and directed by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress (“Final Destination 2”), “The Butterfly Effect” manages to engage you even when you’re expecting the time warps and plot twists. The trick is to not make the twists themselves predictable.
The story examines the life of Evan (Ashton Kutcher), a troubled boy whose random blackouts were the focal point of his childhood. His father’s death in a mental institution and a mischievous prank gone tragically wrong are among the pivotal events that direct the course of his life and the lives of those around him — specifically those of his mother and his three closest childhood friends.
A psychologist recommends that Evan start keeping journals in an effort to weaken the impact of his blackouts. After keeping his diary for 13 years, Evan realizes that by reading them he can transport himself back into moments during which he had originally blacked out, giving him control of how he handles such situations. What follows constitutes Evan’s various attempts to change the life of his childhood friend and ultimate love interest Kayleigh (Amy Smart), her brother Tommy (William Lee Scott), his other childhood friend Lenny (Elden Henson) and even himself.
“The Butterfly Effect” suffers from some weak acting and a mediocre script. Cliche portrayals of college Greeks and prison life also hurt the film’s credibility. Perhaps the least convincing aspect of the film is the notion that Evan can manipulate fate, then mess it all up again and again. If we are to believe that Evan can reconstruct the future by revisiting the past, we should at least have some incentive to support him when he goes back to remedy the mistakes he made a second and third time.
Luckily, the story is surprisingly engaging. What keeps things interesting in this case is that the affected people’s lives change dramatically (hence, “the butterfly effect”) each time we follow Evan in his efforts to fix things. By the time he ultimately makes a significant connection with his father, Kutcher has actually managed to keep our interest, and that’s a good thing.
Perhaps one needs to approach “The Butterfly Effect” cynically to appreciate it. And if you can get past Kutcher’s lovable (or maybe not-so-lovable) MTV prankster image, you might actually find him to be a convincing actor. Moreover, tasteful camerawork and an impressive score from composer Michael Suby help the film’s resolution.
Following in the footsteps of Christopher Nolan’s time-shifting thriller “Memento” and last year’s John Cusack-starring “Identity,” this screenplay includes anticipated curveballs, but does so refreshingly well. Also, like those films, clever editing and unique sequencing helps the viewer get inside Evan’s troubled mind.
At one point during Evan’s teenage years, he and his friends attend a showing of David Fincher’s 1995 masterpiece, “Se7en.” This interpolation of one of the most cleverly crafted psychological thrillers of all time is a tribute to Fincher’s masterful use of unpredictability. While “The Butterfly Effect” does not quite live up to the standard of its idol, it is certainly a worthy effort.
Weinberg freshman Kevin Brown is a writer for PLAY. He can be reached at [email protected].
