B131-DES82
The Butterfly Effect: A Review
Copyright © by Dan Schneider, 3/6/04
‘and it is this simple act,
now, which unleashes the fires of life
from rock on a far away world
six hundred million years from now:
the complex genetic of beginnings
reborn from the simple psychology
of endings; as if invention,
or fear, or the cosmos,
really knows its own course.’
The epigraph
to this article is from my poem called The Barber and is an illustration
of the butterfly effect. This is a belief that small actions can have large
consequences down the road, or- as popularly phrased- ‘A butterfly flapped its
wings 60 years ago in Brazil, and today an earthquake hit China.’ This nostrum
was first uttered in the 19th Century by a philosophe whose name is
long forgotten, but it is misattributed in the film’s opening epigraph to
modern chaos theory. The best popular illustration of the principle came from a
sci fi tale by, I believe, Ray Bradbury, in which a future time traveler goes
back to the dinosaur age, breaches protocol by stepping out of a restricted
area, accidentally kills an insect, and is stuck in the past as human
civilization (& his time machine) never happens.
In the film
of the same name tv pretty boy Ashton Kutcher portrays wannabe genius (or
psychotic?) Evan Treborn, who has supposedly inherited time-tripping powers from
his insane father. His life, at 20, is bad. The love of his life- Kayleigh
Miller (played by Amy Smart)- kills herself one night after he returns to his
hometown to find out about their past- which includes starring in a child porno
film, murdering a mother and her baby, roasting a dog alive, etc. She cannot
take it. Grief-stricken, Evan reads his journals & changes time. He goes
back to a moment in childhood and when he wakens Kayleigh is his college lover,
a member of a sorority, but they are stalked by her psycho brother- Tommy Miller
(William Leigh Scott)- who was a psycho originally, but now is worse. He attacks
Evan, who fights back and kills him. Kayleigh turns on him and Evan is
imprisoned for murder- despite evidence of stalking and vandalism that would
have easily cleared Evan as using self defense. After convincing a con that he
is Jesus (for his time changing) he wills himself out of that timeline and in to
another. But no matter the permutation someone he cares about is in really bad
shape. In one version Kayleigh is a drug-addled hooker, in another Lenny Kagan (Elden
Henson)- a childhood pal- ends up insane for he murders Tommy to protect Evan
and his dog from Tommy’s madness, in another Evan loses his arms and is
paralyzed, rushing to protect a mother and child from a blockbuster the 4 young
pals have planted in a mailbox. This results in Lenny and Kayleigh becoming
lovers, psycho Tommy becoming a Born Again Christian, and Evan’s mom Andrea (Melora
Walters) becoming an emphysemic due to chain-smoking her miseries away over
Evan’s paraplegia. On and on Evan tries.
After a
series of early scenes in which we unexpectedly see Evan blacking out, we later
find out these are the times when his later self has re-entered his form to
‘change’ things. One time it’s to rebuke Kayleigh’s and Tommy’s
father, George, as he’s trying to get the kids to star in a porno film. The
film has logical inconsistencies mostly due to time travel (but more
frustratingly those dealing with the assumption that Evan is nuts as a boy
merely because he draws a murderous picture- any comic book loving boy draws
that and far worse!), but more importantly just too much hammy acting. Kutcher
is way out of his league- as the boneheaded hunk Kelso on That 70s Show
he’s ok, but his lack of serious acting chops shows. At
times the script seems to be dead earnest and at others comic- mostly due to
Kutcher’s inability to react with emotional awareness. Still, the situations
are so relentlessly downbeat that when the comic elements arise (mostly
unintendedly) I was laughing at the characters, not with them. The best
performance comes from Amy Smart who brings an ethereal presence to her roles as
Kayleigh- whether hooker or sorority queen she’s fascinating to watch for
she’s one of the few stunningly beautiful actresses I’ve seen in a film who
do not rely on merely being beautiful to enthrall the audience. Her face and
eyes can act- not just look lovely. The rest of the cast is good to solid.
Some people will carp over the ‘science’- wondering why does a single
thing only effect the same few people in Evan’s life. Why, as example, is he
not a doctor- happily married with 3 kids in any of them? The reason is probably
contingency- that nothing happens in a vacuum. Not all changes will have
profound effects. A little change may bring grave consequences while a seemingly
huge one alters little. Contingency is more aptly shown in larger ways. For
example, without Edison a Tesla or some other inventor would have invented
incandescent lighting within a few years after he did. The difference would be
an entry in a textbook. Precious few things are without trends or precedents.
Perhaps Evan had a desire to stay connected with his youth that almost always
led him to have the same pals in many lives? I doubt the makers of this film
know or understand that concept since they apply a comic book like approach to
the script without either graphic novel seriousness, nor comic book whimsy.
Another objection is why can Evan recall things from lifetimes he’s
wiped out? Or why does, in one timeline, Mr. Miller recall an instance of
Evan’s timetripping in another timeline that has been erased? For me it’s
obvious that the titular idea is used as mere contrivance to tell a tale. A
bolder film would not necessarily have been one that was more logical, but one
whose implications were far more grand. What if Evan had been that Bradburian
time traveler? Or willed himself back to the classic ‘Hitler as a baby’
predicament? What if he killed the young Hitler? What if he assassinated George
Washington? Then, again, it’s not fair to review a film that was not.
Kudos to this film for at least trying, though. It’s not nearly as bad
as most critics make out, but it could have been much more. My wife originally
wanted to see the Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston film Along Came Polly, but
I said I’d rather see a film that fails by breaking formulae than succeeds by
following it. A Pyrrhic victory, perhaps. Writers and directors Eric Bress and
J. Mackye Gruber cannot be faulted for trying, but their visual style is too
melodramatic, as is their story.
The similarly-themed The Lathe Of Heaven was made into a very
effective PBS film 25 years earlier with minimal effects and a far better story.
That tale succeeded by letting us know, in the end, that the tale was the last
moment death dream of a nuclear war victim. This film suffers because we never
quite know whether this is all in Evan’s head- a more rich film would have
tried it, or a sci fi/fantasy- which should have been more adventurous. Not
letting us know could have only worked were the script, acting, and visuals more
intriguing- merely shaking the camera and having the journal’s letters jumble
just bores. Not to mention that, for a genius, Evan is a dolt. In one of the
time trips he returns to light the blockbuster that killed a mother and child in
one reality, but now waves it at the pedophilic Mr. Miller, and winds up
killing his true love. And he does this as the adult Evan in control of
his child’s body! That geniuses do stupid shit like this is a far bigger flaw
in the script than any time travel continuity issues.
Still,
the ending and last time jump eschew a Hollywood ending as Evan returns to the
first time he met Kayleigh and scares her in to never being his friend. Years
later- at 28- the 2 are successful New York professionals, pass each other on
the street, look, but keep on walking. This ability to sidestep convention
augurs potential for the duo, for not caving in to the expected and ending the
film ala It's a Wonderful Life. Amy Smart has all the makings of future
stardom, but Ashton Kutcher is probably doomed to a future in reality tv as a
former tv star. If that’s the future he faces he can always avenge his legacy
and screw the rest of us by stepping on another insect- just for spite.
[An expurgated version of this article originally appeared on the 2/04 Hackwriters website.]
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