Definitely worth a watch

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2019)

Ashton Kutcher did surprisingly well in this movie. I've always seen him as a comedy symbol and was worried he'd make this psychological thriller funnier than intended, but he held back with his goofy side and showed true skill in this film. The child actors were also pretty excellent, except for seven-year-old Kayleigh. She wasn't as convincing as the others, but she did try and the credit was rightfully deserved.
I absolutely LOVED the fact that the reasons why seven-year-old Evan was having blackouts was because of his future self going back to those memories. I thought that was a brilliant way of explaining it, although it does leave me wondering how the journals actually came to be. It leaves me questioning if he was living in a loop the whole time or if he truly was traveling back in time. Because without the journals, would he have blackouts? And if so, would it be because of his future self going back in time? If that's the case, then how would his future self go back in time without the journals? In the beginning of the movie, he had his first black out without writing a journal. Did that blackout occur because of his future self time traveling? How so? It leaves me curious and whether or not this film intended for these questions to be asked, I love to debate about it.
I also thought the interaction he had with his father while going back in time was awesome and slightly heartbreaking. It explained so much and it was extremely well portrayed.
There were a few plot holes and slightly exaggerated scenes. Seven (or eight) year old Tommy was a little too aggressive in my opinion. I understand the reason being because of his father and his hate towards him, but there wasn't much character development for him other than the fact that, because he lived with his mother in the end, he became successful and a college graduate.
My favorite character was Lenny. Both the child actors and the oldest version of him were acted quite well to me. His storyline was what stood out to me the most, despite the fact that our attention was primarily on Evan and Kayleigh the entire time. I loved the fact that he was so emotionally distraught because of Tommy's lunatic ways. It frustrated me how none of the kids went to their parents about the troubles they been through, but I think that's the exact point of the film. Not many kids or teenagers go to their parents when something serious happens because of embarrassment or shame, or because they fear of getting hurt by the person they are snitching on. I think the film did a good job of showing how oblivious parents can be to their child's behavior at times.
Overall I think anyone and everyone should watch this movie. It's pretty great and very entertaining.