Butterfly Effect, The

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.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Kutcher delivers a credibly serious performance as Evan, and he's surrounded by a skilled supporting cast.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

With a surprisingly unhappy, anti-Hollywood ending that will appeal to those who like things dark.

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.

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.

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.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

An entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism.

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.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The film works best as an extended "Twilight Zone" episode.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Kutcher is the wrong actor to anchor a psychological freak-out.

Empire Angie Errigo

Arguably worse than its sadistic absurdity is the depressing, limited scope.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

So, here's the problem with The Butterfly Effect: It's silly.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Profoundly knuckleheaded.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

So consistently silly and overwrought that it flirts with the elusive so-bad-it's-entertaining category.

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.

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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

My advice? Grab Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine and recast with Jimmy Dean.

Slate Michael Agger

Impressively sets a new standard for time travel gone awry.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Abysmal thriller.

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.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Nothing can save this repetitive bore. Dude, where's your memory?

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!

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.

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.

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.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

A bad-movie-lover's heaven, and a good-movie-lover's hell.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It's like receiving a box of Valentine's chocolates in which someone has deliberately hidden ground glass. Flee.

The New York Times Dave Kehr

Inhabited by a genuine spirit of cruelty, both toward its characters and its audience.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's a terrible life, and a terrible movie.