What would happen is one can change one point in their life?

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2011)

This is a strange movie that follows the life of the lead character (Evan) from when he is a boy to a young man. He keeps on having blank spot, normally when something really bad happens, but after his teenage years these 'black outs' stop. One day, after hearing that his childhood sweetheart recently died, and while he does go to her funeral, he stays away as her brother, and his enemy, is also present, he feels powerless to change the life that has developed.
However, he suddenly discovers why he had these black spots. It turned out that they were turning points in his life, and he also discovers that he is able to travel back to these points in his life and change the way things happened. Since the age of seven, he had been writing a diary, and it is by rereading the diary that he discovers that he can travel back in time to change the circumstances of his life.
This is where the title of the film comes it. The theory is that if a butterfly flaps its wings in China, it was cause a hurricane in the United States. So to with Evan's life. He travels back to that one moment, and does something differently, and when he returns he discovers that his entire life has changed. However, he is never really satisfied, and in the end he is seeking the perfect life, but discovers that no matter what happens, he can never make his life perfect. Further, it is only with the diary that he is able to alter his life, so when he loses his diary (or even discovers that it was never written) does he lose this power.
As mentioned, even a slight change has enormous consequences. He does get to a point where life seems really good. His friends have turned out well, and all seems good, with the exception that he is seriously crippled. Thus is revealed Evan's selfish side. He wants his life to be perfect, and when he attempts to create the perfect life, it backfires. In the end he decides that it is better to not even have been born.