Two hour MTV music video

Rating: 2/10 (4 November 2006)

'Butterfly Effect' is the kind of movie that is quite entertaining the first time around, but on subsequent viewings the flaws become glaringly evident. The original idea was a good one, and in the hands of a competent film-maker, this could have been a classic. Unfortunately, the film looks like crap. The whole production has a cheap, MTV style look. Totally devoid of artistic flair, such as impressive camera angles or stylish lighting, this looks exactly like a cheapo TV show. I cannot fathom how something that looks like THIS has such a high rating on IMDb. The acting as well, is just about on TV show level as well. And I could not for one moment take the airhead 'surfer dude' Ashton Kutcher in a dramatic, serious role. This 'actor' doesn't look like he has ever experienced a real emotion in his life. Every character here was such a complete, phony stereotype; Hayley, molested by her dad, isn't just a wreck of a woman; She is the crack whore from Hell, complete with the facial scar. Or when things go right, she isn't merely a normal, well adjusted young woman; No, she is a living, breathing TV commercial, sorority girl in pink with the dork boyfriend. Ready to rule the world, just because she wasn't molested after all. And how did people contain their laughter at seeing Ashton Kutcher, fraternity boy with the yellow windbreaker and sports car? Everything here was just sooo extreme, and so outrageously;y exaggerated, as if we as an audience are so stupid, that we can only understand things in the most extreme stereotyped characters conceivable. Thumper, the obese roommate/buddy, absolutely laughable. Not only was the film poorly conceived, but it was offensive as well. exploiting subjects like sexual child abuse, prostitution, drug addiction, for the sake of making this tacky movie, pretty bad. And the absolute worst thing about this mess is that it seems to be making the arrogant, and highly ridiculous claim that it is somehow a film in the same vein as 'Seven', a film that is so superior to this MTV nightmare, that it is just ludicrous. During the scene where the kids, (who were the films only saving grace) were watching 'Seven' in a movie theatre, I really was wishing that I was watching that film instead of this one. And during the totally unbelievable 'prison sequence' I was wishing that I was watching 'American History X', or Sean Penn in 'Bad Boys'. Anything more realistic than a film where a 20 year-old Sorority babe says things like "You said we were gonna be together forever, come Hell or High Water!" Are we supposed to believe that anyone under the age of 65, much less a Barbie doll sorority bimbo, actually uses terms like "Come Hell or high water?!?" 'Butterfly Effect' has a good idea, but it has no idea of how to present it capably. I can see how people under 18 might think this is 'a cool flick', but it mystifies me that any intelligent adult would see this as a legitimate film. Yes, it is somewhat entertaining, and yes it is an ugly, 2 hour MTV video.