Responsibility

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2004)

The DIRECTOR'S CUT has the worst message I've ever seen offered up in a movie whose lead actor is a VERY popular teen idol. READER BEWARE -- THIS WHOLE THING IS A SPOILER: Essentially, the director's cut is the story of the family classic starring Jimmy Stewart "It's A Wonderful Life" but with the opposite message: What if I were never born? -- The world would be MUCH better off without me! Now I don't want to quash anybody's artistic vision, but come on, exercise a little responsibility: particularly the star/executive producer: Ashton Kutcher. While the idea that in his final jump through time (in an effort to set things right) he commits suicide in the womb of his mother before he is even born is indeed intriguing, it has very little merit presented in this format. Kutcher's character is not a monster. This isn't as if Hitler developed a conscience and tried to go back in time to write his wrongs only ultimately to commit suicide as a final solution to prevent his unfathomable crimes. Kutcher and his friends are very much like average everyday kids, facing the tragedies that many kids do today, in fact some of the things that happen in Kutcher's alternate universes are milder than the problems faced by many kids today. For Kutcher to ultimately take himself out of the equation to solve the problems he thinks he created shows how poorly thought out the decision was to release the director's cut version BECAUSE even though this movie carries an R rating, once the DVD hits the shelves, Ashton's many teen fans are going to have access to it "R" rating or otherwise. Some of these kids are asking themselves the very question about how important they are to the world every day, some even by the hour and here is a movie made by their celebrity peer Ashton Kutcher that says: the world would be better off without me. It's bad enough that the movie chooses this option, but where the MOST EGREGIOUS ERROR IN Judgment happens is showing just how rosy the world actually is without Kutcher. Everyone is shown to be enormously happy without Kutcher in their lives. THIS IS JUST WRONG. Life just isn't like that. To present it in this manner says, if your life isn't perfect, then the world would be better off without you. It denigrates Kutcher's self worth and anyone who finds themselves in the same boat. I have no problem with the overall message of the film: don't spend your life regretting the decisions you made in the past because you can't change them and even if you did make a different decision, things might not be any different. It even supports the positive message that we must all find peace and happiness in what "is" and forget what might have been. BUT AS A DEPRESSED TEENAGER (or adult for that matter), That message is quickly forgotten in the last 10 minutes of the director's cut where we are told point blank: if you don't like your life it's probably because of you and everyone else would be better off without you -- so DO THE RIGHT THING AND KILL YOURSELF. It's a message that is hard to overcome after such a dark journey. So next time Hollywood, let's exercise a little social responsibility and put a lid on the "artistic freedom" argument and don't make a movie with a major celebrity who assures a substantial teen audience with a message that doesn't do anyone any favors.