The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Here's a film that has a great premise and, through lack of talent and/or thoughtfulness, fucks it up completely. The filmmakers spend too much time trying to shock us and not enough actually thinking about the mechanics of the premise -- why, for instance, should Ashton Kutcher be so confused on how to act in his new lives when we clearly see him gaining new memories, some of which would presumably tell him what kind of person he's become? -- or the radical implications or even simple effective plotting (there's one or two plot holes near the end big enough to toss Ethan Suplee through). The filmmaker's chutzpah make the film slightly effective for a while anyway until it becomes terminally silly. Kutcher tries, but much like Keanu Reeves before him, he's out of his league in serious drama (note that his most natural acting comes in a scene where he's asked to be flippant and goofy about his brain disease); I feel confident in saying that his "where's the rest of me?" moment will be the most unintentionally funny cinematic moment of 2004, even though this is only the first film of the year that I've seen.

(And just because I can do it, here's something from the Pernice Brothers song "Flaming Wreck" that says much of what the film tries to say but does so without sucking: "Are we so perfect now? / Pick myself up off the ground / Is it once? / Is it twice? / Is it perfect now?" There. I just saved you ten bucks.)

Grade: C