Hey folks, Harry here with a Sundance look at THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. What makes this a different type of review of the film, is that it's surrounded by non-traditional non-Hollywood film... and often times that glitzy Hollywood product leaves one hollow when next to indies. Here's Mean Mr Mustard with a disappointing look at THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT!

Hi Harry,  

Just got back from seeing "The Butterfly Effect" in Salt Lake City.  The very large theatre at Trolley Corners was packed to the gills and the film got a smattering of applause at the end (just about everyone applauds everything at Sundance, so the gesture has lost all meaning).  Unfortunately, none of that applause was from me.  Co-directors and screenwriters Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber are very good storytellers, and "The Butterfly Effect" kept me involved for maybe an hour or even a bit longer, but there comes a point when the twists stop becoming interesting, plotlines begin piling up, and you just want to grab the filmmakers by the collars and scream, "JUST GET TO THE DAMN POINT ALREADY!"  

Quick plot synopsis: Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) has been having black-outs since he was a little boy.  These black-outs are always connected with traumatic events in his life.  As a young man, Evan figures out a way to travel back to those horrible moments in his life (via his journals) and rectify past mistakes.  However, like a butterfly that flaps its wings only to cause a typhoon a thousand miles away, his actions, while always good intentions, have dire ramifications to those he loves most.  

Great premise.  And the film strings you along for quite awhile with the promise of something extraordinary.  Alas, the film lacks a strong thematic structure, and what we're left with is a series of increasingly repetitive sequences as Kutcher changes history, realizes he's made a big mistake, changes it again, makes an even bigger mistake, etc., etc.  The cause of Kutcher's blackouts are never satisfyingly explained and end up having the feel of a cheap gimmick to hang the plot of the story on.  The pieces of the story never add up to anything.  What are the filmmakers trying to say here?  Just be happy with the way your life is?  Don't get involved with the girl next door if you're suffering from blackouts?  I couldn't put my finger on it.  This is soulless technique, plain and simple.  

Soulless technique, yes.  But very well made soulless technique.  The production values are amazing.  Matthew Leonetti's photography is appropriately cold and washed-out; I especially liked the look of the scenes in the prison and in the basement where Kutcher and his childhood pals are abused by the creepy Eric Stoltz.  There's a sense of menace from the very first frame.  The film is tightly edited, the make-up job on Amy Smart through all her various transformations is very believable... but I just felt jerked around by that screenplay.  Instead of a trophy at the end, all I got was a cheap consolation prize for my trouble.  

The performances are all top-notch.  The child actors in the flashbacks are all convincing and (in a few cases) very terrifying.  Amy Smart has the thankless job of Plot Prop -- i.e. playing several different versions of herself for the sake of the story, while never really giving us a root character (for sake of a better description) that we can refer back to.  Melora Walters is always a joy to watch -- casting directors, you really need to put her in more stuff (perhaps I'm biased, having liked her so much in "Magnolia").  

I enjoyed "The Butterfly Effect" while in the moment.  It's afterward and toward the end when the disappointment begins to settle in.  The filmmakers were content in merely thrilling us it seems, instead of totally blowing our minds, as the premise leads us to believe.  

I'll check in later this week with "Garden State," "Redemption," "Sky Blue," "Saved!," "The Dreamers," "One Point Zero," "Bright Young Things," and "Zotoichi."  Until then.  

- Mean Mr. Mustard