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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Butterfly Effect, The
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 182 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Sci-fi | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
J. Mackye Gruber
Eric Bress
Directed by:
Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 23, 2004
DVD: July 6, 2004
Running Time: 113 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for violence, sexual content, language and brief drug use
Starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Kevin Schmidt, Melora Walters, Elden Henson, Eric Stoltz, John Patrick Amedori, and William Lee Scott
Evan Treborn (Kutcher) has lost track of time. From an early age, crucial moments of his life have disappeared into a black hole of forgetting, his boyhood marred by a series of terrifying events he can't remember. Determined to do something now that he was incapable of doing then, Evan purposely travels back in time, his present-day mind occupying his childhood body, in an attempt to re-write history and spare his friends and loved ones these traumatic experiences. By altering the events of the past, Evan hopes to transform the present. (New Line Cinema)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The ending is weak, and may be the result of the filmmakers writing themselves into a corner and not wanting to conclude things in a burst of nihilistic excess. Yet, even though it's a cheat, it retains a degree of resonance.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Kutcher delivers a credibly serious performance as Evan, and he's surrounded by a skilled supporting cast.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There's so much flashing forward and backward, so many spins of fate, so many chapters in the journals, that after awhile I felt that I, as well as time, was being jerked around.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Staff (Not credited)
A terrific story, years in the making, that clearly stays true to the uncompromising vision of its creators. The results are on the screen.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
As a thriller, The Butterfly Effect is iffy and uneven, but as a portrait of a people, it's effective and intriguing.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Isn't a complete waste of time. If Kutcher seeks to transition from national joke to lightweight actor, he's made a decent stab at it.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Unpleasantness alone doesn't sink a movie. But miserable tidings intensify when there's not only a high ick factor but also floundering storytelling.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
With a surprisingly unhappy, anti-Hollywood ending that will appeal to those who like things dark.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Better than you might expect despite its awkward, slow beginning, drawing you in gradually and paying off in surprisingly effective and bittersweet ways.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Somewhere, back in the mists of time, co-writers Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber must have flapped their gums in the fond hope of crafting a script; today, that whisper of hot air has swollen into a feature flick that rains down upon us a veritable torrent of inane plot.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
In its own ridiculous way, The Butterfly Effect is an entertaining movie, despite mediocre acting, lackluster direction and a story that's sometimes frustrating. It has the integrity of camp, maintaining an odd earnestness in the face of its own absurdity.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
An entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Kutcher's performance isn't terrible, but the brilliant, bewildered, increasingly desperate Evan is the film's center, and grounding its flights of fantasy in rock-solid emotional reality is more than Kutcher can manage.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The film works best as an extended "Twilight Zone" episode.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Ashton Kutcher wants to be taken seriously so badly it hurts. So does this metaphysical mess of a movie, a pseudo time-travel drama so complicated it takes more than half an hour just to establish the gimmick. And a gimmick it is.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Kutcher is the wrong actor to anchor a psychological freak-out.
Read Full Review >Empire Angie Errigo
Arguably worse than its sadistic absurdity is the depressing, limited scope.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
So, here's the problem with The Butterfly Effect: It's silly.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
So consistently silly and overwrought that it flirts with the elusive so-bad-it's-entertaining category.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
This overwrought and egregiously self-serious thriller about the poisonous fruit borne of child abuse grows more ridiculous by the quarter-hour and is poised for a theatrical life span scarcely longer than that of its eponymous insect.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Dennis Lim
You have to, if not love, at least not mind a movie in which the very act of Ashton Kutcher reading is enough of a cosmic trauma to rip a hole in the fabric of space-time.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
My advice? Grab Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine and recast with Jimmy Dean.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A film of singularly boneheaded conceits, Butterfly is populated by, and appears to have been made by, stoned college dudes more hung up on oh-wow twists than the need to make sense.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Nothing can save this repetitive bore. Dude, where's your memory?
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
As soon as I finish writing this review, I'm going to try traveling a few hours in the past. That way, I can improve my life by skipping this movie!
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
If you approach this movie in the right frame of mind -- that is, with total contempt -- you can still enjoy it as a comedy.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
An undercooked allusion to chaos theory -- gives every appearance of having been conceived, planned and executed out of a high school locker room.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
As the requisite love interest, Amy Smart gives the film's only professional performance, while co-star Eric Stoltz, as the story's villain, walks somnolent through the scenery with what seems to be barely suppressed mirth. Given the deeply unpleasant plot machinations and amateurish direction, the actor's amusement is understandable.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
A bad-movie-lover's heaven, and a good-movie-lover's hell.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
It's like receiving a box of Valentine's chocolates in which someone has deliberately hidden ground glass. Flee.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dave Kehr
Inhabited by a genuine spirit of cruelty, both toward its characters and its audience.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
It's a terrible life, and a terrible movie.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 182 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
G R gave it a10:
I have no idea why this film has received negative reviews, one of my fav films. Critics know nothing.
Andrew W gave it an8:
It was like alot of low buget hollywood movies, not alot to play around with, hence only 4 people being changed by his "blocked memories" but it was VERY well done in my opinion, definitely a must watch, and for me a must keep!! one of ashtons best acting jobs, very very unique plot, all in all VERY entertaining!! going to read up more on the chaos theory now! :D enjoy
Jack B gave it a7:
I saw this on tv the other night and really enjoyed it. Very nice idea, something a bit different. Kutcher excellent and showed new depth i never knew he had, he should stick to proper acting in roles which stretch him because he has a lot of talent. Good film, well worth a watch if its on the tele and you have a free evening.
jess scott gave it an8:
I enjoyed this film thoroughly the critics may of voted low because they're easily confused but i found it had depth, good acting and generally a good film don't be put of by the 30 if u like thrillers this is for you.
Romina S. gave it an8:
Personally, I think The Butterfly Effect was a good movie. I think it’s definitely worth watching and I liked that the ending was not the same as any other movie. The director was effective in portraying the different ethical dilemmas that the characters are faced with throughout the movie. Evan, the protagonist, experiences a number of blackouts as a young boy and after seeing psychiatrists, is told to keep journals of all of the events happening in his life. When he is older, he finds the journals and begins reading them only to find out that he can go back to the events described in the journal entry that he reads. The movie depicts various instances where the protagonist must come to decisions that affect not only his life, but also the lives of everyone around him. Despite his ability to go back and change the lives of himself and others, he is the only one aware of his actions and it’s not ethically justified because he’s tampering with others lives at his own will. Even though he goes back in time for different outcomes, he tries to achieve the best possible outcome for all of them. When he sees that his friends have problems or aren’t happy in certain paths, then he changes their lives again hoping for the best. At the end, he goes a long way back before any of this happened and he makes the decision that he believes is the best one for all of them.
Paul W. gave it a0:
Horrible movie, I never got past the first 40 minutes due to how horrible it was.
Ghostbuddy gave it an8:
The majority of modern day critics, are unfortunetely traped in a closed minded state while watching movies. Just look at the reviews for this movie, found on this site. And the biggest complaint you see is the plot is silly. That the plot is nonsense. The truth is, the plot isn't grounded in what they accept as reality. And that prevents them from seeing the commentary behind it. The basic concept is. We have a group of friends that grow up, with a pretty f-ked up childhood. Evan, the main character begins to suffer from blackouts. He is taken to a child psychologist, who assures Evans mother its nothing to worry about. And that children usually do this to forget about stressful and traumatic experiences. He reccomends that Evan begin to reccord a journal to help him remember. When Evan grows up, and is in college. He realizes he can take control of his past self by reading his journal. Basically his consciousness can take a trip back in time. Allowing him to change his past. This turns out to be a silly and unrealistic but suprizingly effective plot device. It allows the story telling to reveals things about the characters twisted past, in very interesting ways. It allows the movie to talk about consequences and humanity in very intriguing ways. The movie is overall well executed. Effective camera angles. Great use of sound and image filters during the film. There is some less then satisfactory acting. But I never found it to be laughably or unacceptably bad. I think the degree of which this movie was panned highlights a problem with critics. One reviewer basically critized the film for not having a typical hollywood ending. Another reviewer critized it for being "complicated". This movie has a lot of good ideas, and if you approach it open mindedly, you will find an intriguing commentary wraped in twisted imagery, backed by great film making and editing. Don't get me wrong, this movie is not perfect, nor close to it. But I think it would be a shame if the genius in this movie is forgotten. Because the movies plot refuses to be grounded by preconcieved notions, and because of a few minor fumbles by a few actors. Seriously, don't take critics of any kind seriously on anything any more. Trust the adverage user score more.
