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The Butterfly Effect
This film is most easily described as "Somewhere in Time" (Christopher
Reeve) meets "Donnie Darko" via "Fight Club" and hydroponic marijuana.
It wears its teen angst proudly on its sleeve and, I suspect if you are
over the age of twenty-five and don"t care about the growing pains of
fat, spoilt, middle-class American suburbanites, it will leave you very
cold indeed.
If, on the other hand, you DO care about middle class angst, but loathe
melodramatic camera work and editing, acting that never descends below
"death scream" intensity but never hits a right note, and the sort of
dialogue that is usually employed to sell toilet tissues, "The
Butterfly Effect" will have all the appeal of a major traffic jam on a
hot, dry, windless day.
"The Butterfly Effect" stars Ashton Kutcher, a tall young man of such
startling beauty that I found it almost totally impossible to pay any
attention to a single word that came out of his mouth. Instead, I spent
my time alternately staring mindlessly at the lovingly created sets,
and wondering, morosely, as to whether anyone as pretty as Ashton ever
really has any problems more complex than deciding which Udo Kier film
to watch next for more acting tips. The fact that in "Butterfly
Effect" Ashton is being asked to carry pretty much the entire plot of a
quite complex film only makes matters worse. Overall, the effect is
rather like watching an elephant (albeit, a very attractive and graceful
elephant) wallowing nobly in treacle, for far too long.
The only hint of inspiration that I could really identify in "The
Butterfly Effect" was that the makers of the film seemed to have
identified this major failing in their star and taken steps to address
it. Instead of hiring quality actors to surround their beleaguered star
they decided instead to surround him with lesser talents, that his star
might shine more brightly. Sadly, this cunning plan backfired, and
terminated in a film where just about no-one involved really acts, at
all. The effect is rather like a series of MuppetsTM impersonating
various cultural archetypes that the audience is expected to identify
with, the most obvious of these being the overweight (but brave and
sexually active) gothic guy who is designed to get the film "comicbook
store cred" with the "youth cult set." It is all THAT obvious and THAT
manipulative. That it is also THAT bad is a sad reflection on US
"alternative" filmmaking. This film is big business masquerading as
rebellion by way of sophomoric acting, and, if you have any taste, it
shows.
The plot is simple at its essence, Ashton Kutcher has had a troubled
childhood, and he gains the ability to physically project himself back
in time and behave differently at crux points in his past. This means
that horrible experiences play out differently and all events since
then adjust themselves accordingly. Ashton has several goes at changing
specific moments to create a perfect "guilt free"TM adulthood for
himself, but finds that reality just seems to like dropping him in the
shit. No matter how many times Ashton replaces craven with noble and
noble with craven, things always seem to be shitty back in 2004. It is
rather like the episode of "The Simpsons" where Homer turns his toaster
into a time machine and then keeps fucking up dinosaurs in an attempt
to "fix" things, but much longer, and not nearly as funny.
The ending transcends the whole film with levels of lachrymose
snivelling self indulgence not seen since such classic cinema as
"Sunshine" or even perhaps the great "Ice Castles" and finishes in
veritable a tour de force of bullshit altruism.
If your teenager loves this film, you should hope that they will grow
out of it, and think about sending them on some sort of "boot camp" to
Antarctica. Seriously. If they hate it, stop treating them like a
teenager and get your head around the fact that they have already grown
up.
Consider anyone who has NOT seen it as blessed and recommend spending
the money saved on some fine wine, or perhaps a decent book.
Rating: One star
(C)opyright Alex Rieneck, 2005.
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