It is said that the mere flutter of a butterfly can impact things halfway around the world

Rating: 6/10 (3 December 2016)

Released in 2004 and directed/written by Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber, "The Butterfly Effect" is a sci-fi/thriller/horror starring Ashton Kutcher as a young man who suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. In college he finds a way to remember these lost memories and, more significantly, alter bad events by supernaturally traveling to the past via focusing on the words in his old journals. Unfortunately, changing the past has unforeseen repercussions. Amy Smart plays his girlfriend and William Lee Scott her psycho (or maybe not) brother. Melora Walters appears as his mother while Elden Henson plays his pal, Lenny.
This is an ambitious movie that cogently shows how changing one element of the past has a ripple effect, both positive and negative. The constant change in timeline makes the story seem jumbled at first, but the movie finds its footing and everything ultimately makes sense. Kutcher is surprisingly good in the lead role while Amy is solid in support, and fetching.
Where the movie sometimes goes off the rails is the exaggerated behavior of some of the characters throughout. The way they act just doesn't ring true and it comes across goofy, like characters in a comedic slasher flick. It's as if the writers don't understand how real people act in the situations in question; even wackos don't behave as portrayed. As such, these sequences come off surreal at best. But, if you can handle this glaring flaw, "The Butterfly Effect" is a worthwhile quasi-horror flick, although be forewarned that icky topics are breached (but thankfully only breached).
The film runs 113 minutes while the Director's Cut with the originally-intended ending runs 120 minutes. The consensus is that the theatrical version is superior to the bleak, cold and grotesque climax of the Director's Cut. The locations are awesome, by the way, shot in the Vancouver area.
GRADE: Borderline B-/C+