Decent brain candy (no, not what you might think)...

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2004)

I'll have to be honest... I elected not to see this movie in the theatre because of my historical dislike of Ashton Kutcher, based on his previous work. Upon reading through several reviews of the film, my initial concerns appeared to have been validated. However, I came across The Butterfly Effect at the video store recently and decided to give it a shot. Needless to say, I am quite glad I did. Some of the major criticisms relate to the perceived plot holes surrounding the issue of theoretical time travel. I agree that there are imperfections here; however, I also recognize that sacrifices must at times be made in order to tell a story that the viewer will find appealing and interesting. Call it poetic license...after all, it is intended to be a piece of art, NOT a research paper on temporal theory. One of the characteristics I look for in a good film is the extent to which it elicits intellectual debate (brain candy), because I believe good intellectual debate is a positive contribution to society. This one, for better or worse, certainly has done that. There has been ample critique of the acting in this film as well. I won't go as far as to say there are any Oscar-worthy performances here, but the performances were more than adequate. Mr. Kutcher delved very well into uncharted territory in this movie, which was refreshing. I actually found myself liking him, which I never thought would happen. I was also very impressed with the performances of the kids in this movie -- particularly Logan Lerman (Evan at age 7) and Jesse James (Tommy at age 13). All in all, 8 out of 10--