The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Synopsis: Evan Treborn (Ashton 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. What remains is the ghost of memory and the broken lives around him – the... Evan Treborn (Ashton 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. What remains is the ghost of memory and the broken lives around him – the lives of his childhood friends, Kayleigh (Amy Smart), Lenny (Elden Henson) and Tommy (William Lee Scott). Throughout his childhood, Evan was under the care of a psychologist who encouraged him to keep a journal, detailing the events of his day-to-day life. Now in college, Evan reads from one of his journals and finds himself thrust suddenly, inexplicably back in time. He comes to realize that the notebooks he keeps under his bed are a vehicle by which he can return to the past and reclaim his memories. But these recollections only leave Evan feeling responsible for the damaged lives of his friends, most crucially that of Kayleigh, his childhood sweetheart who he continued to love into adulthood. 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. But every time Evan changes something in the past, he returns to the present to find that his actions have unexpected and disastrous consequences. Try as he might, he can’t seem to create a reality that allows he and Kayleigh to live “happily ever after.” The Butterfly Effect is a suspenseful, provocative thriller that represents an intriguing new direction for Ashton Kutcher (“That ‘70’s Show,” Dude Where’s My Car, Just Married) and features a dynamic ensemble cast that includes Amy Smart (Roadtrip, Varsity Blues), Eric Stoltz (Pulp Fiction, The Rules of Attraction), William Lee Scott (Pearl Harbor, Gone in Sixty Seconds), Elden Henson (The Mighty, She’s All That) and Logan Lerman, with Ethan Suplee and Melora Walters (Boogie Nights, Magnolia). The film marks the feature directorial debut of Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, (the writing team behind the hit 2003 thriller Final Destination 2), who also penned the screenplay. A Benderspink and FilmEngine production in association with Katalyst, The Butterfly Effect is produced by Chris Bender, A.J. Dix, Anthony Rhulen and J.C. Spink. The executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Cale Boyter, William Shively, David Krintzman, Jason Goldberg and Ashton Kutcher. The co-producer is Lisa Richardson. New Line Cinema will release The Butterfly Effect (rated “R” by the M.P.A.A. for “violence, sexual content, language and brief drug use”) nationwide on January 23rd, 2004. [More]