intriguing premise but gets too convoluted

Rating: 6/10 (18 September 2015)

As a child, Evan Treborn suffers from blackouts. Her single mom Andrea (Melora Walters) leaves him with Mr. Miller (Eric Stoltz) as his babysitter. However Miller would film him in pornography with Kayleigh while Tommy watch. As a teen, Evan, Tommy, Kayleigh and Lenny have an incident but Evan has another blackout. His treatment in Sunnyvale Institution doesn't reveal his blackouts. Kayleigh continues to be abused by her father. Tommy's anger sends him on a bad path and he grows to hate Evan for his love of Kayleigh. Evan moves out of the neighborhood and vows to return for Kayleigh. In college, Evan (Ashton Kutcher) has left behind his past and his blackouts. He's living with wild man Thumper (Ethan Suplee). He reads his old notebook and flashbacks to moments in his childhood. He returns to the neighborhood to find Lenny as a volatile recluse. Kayleigh (Amy Smart) is a defeated girl working as a waitress. His return drives her to commit suicide. Tommy is an ex-con. He starts to go back in time and change history.
The premise is intriguing. It starts off great but the whipsaw changes are too much. It's too wild. It does allow Ashton Kutcher and to some extent, Amy Smart to stretch out their acting skills. However it just goes too wild and too crazy. It becomes a cartoon rather than something to be taken seriously but Kutcher does a relatively good job.