Director's Best Cut

Rating: Null/10 (11 October 2004)

Wow.
I just caught up with Butterfly Effect on DVD and I was blown away. The controversial ending literally gave me goose bumps. I would absolutely urge everybody - SEE THE DIRECTOR'S CUT. I haven't seen the other cuts, admittedly, but this ending is absolutely PERFECT - heartbreaking, sincere, edgy, brave film making.
It's SUCH a shame that the producers, or New Line, or whoever balked at releasing the Director's Cut when it was first in theaters. If they had I'm 100 percent positive they would now be sitting on a movie that at the very least had acquired a cult reputation as big as a certain Mr. Darko's...
Thank God for the format of DVD. Now we can see what the film makers intended, and how brilliantly they worked towards one of the most fitting endings I've EVER seen to a film.
Kudos to all concerned, to Bress and MacGruber, to Ashton Kutcher (who overcame all my previous fears about his involvement), to Amy Smart (heartrendingly good in all her character's incarnations) and to Melora Walters, confirming the promise that P T Anderson showed.
A wonderful movie, 10 out of 10. Check it out, but my advice is to steer clear of the alternate endings, see the Director's Cut for harsh, unadulterated excellence.