A great film...

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2005)

After seeing this movie for the first time, I believe it to be an excellent film and highly recommend it for those who have not seen it. Strangely, critics and IMDb users have not given this movie a fair review and "turned a cold shoulder," as one user put it, toward this film.
"The Butterfly Effect" has a solid plot containing many themes about life and human emotions. In the movie, Evan (Ashton Kutcher) grows up with what the script suggests is some sort of psychological sickness where he has blackouts and cannot remember what has happened. We find early on that Evan's father may suffer from the same illness, and Evan is encouraged to keep a journal of all of his everyday activities in hopes that this may trigger his memory. These blackouts usually occur during some significant life altering events, in which Evan can not remember what has taken place. Through this journal, Evan is able to relive the past and change the outcome of his and his friends' lives.
One of the key themes in this film is about change and sacrifice. Evan realizes that to change the lives of the others around him he must change himself, even if it means not being with his childhood girlfriend Kayleigh (Amy Smart), whom Kayleigh's brother Tommy (William Lee Scott) refuses to accept as Evan's girlfriend. Evan goes into the past through his journal to try and alter Tommy's sadistic behavior, while making sure that Kayleigh and Lenny also grow up as normal people. In the end, Evan sacrifices the love he has for Kayleigh in order for her family and Lenny to have a better life.
This film is about more than just the love story between Kayleigh and Evan, as Evan's endeavors change not only the people around him, but his future and his lifestyle. Each time Evan goes back into the past his life changes based on what occurred each time he tried to correct the past. Each "correction" he makes has a profound impact on not only his future, but the future of those around him, thus the tagline "Change one thing, change everything." Overall I think this is an outstanding film and I enjoy how the writers worked in these ideas into the plot of the film.