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The Butterfly Effect

R Released Jan 23, 2004 1h 53m Mystery & Thriller TRAILER for The Butterfly Effect: Trailer 1 List
34% Tomatometer 173 Reviews 81% Audience Score 250,000+ Ratings
College student Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is afflicted with headaches so painful that he frequently blacks out. While unconscious, Evan is able to travel back in time to difficult moments in his childhood. He can also alter the past for friends, like Kayleigh (Amy Smart), who was molested by her father (Eric Stoltz). But changing the past can drastically alter the present, and Evan finds himself in nightmarish alternate realities, including one where he's locked away in prison. Read More Read Less
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The Butterfly Effect

What to Know

Critics Consensus

The premise is intriguing, but it's placed in the service of an overwrought and tasteless thriller.

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Critics Reviews

View All (173) Critics Reviews
Nell Minow Common Sense Media Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. So very bad. Rated: 1/5 Dec 28, 2010 Full Review Empire Magazine Rated: 2/5 Apr 1, 2006 Full Review Jonathan Crocker BBC.com Lobotomised entertainment that's dark, violent, and hilariously dumb. Rated: 2/5 Apr 13, 2004 Full Review Luke Buckmaster Flicks (AU, NZ, UK) This film is so gut-wrenchingly dark and twisted I’d also call it a horror movie, with virtually no respite once its core premise swings into gear. May 21, 2024 Full Review James Croot Stuff.co.nz Wildly uneven and not exactly high-quality entertainment, The Butterfly Effect has, nonetheless, weirdly turned out to be strangely memorable, especially for certain generation of moviegoers. Rated: 3/5 Jan 12, 2022 Full Review C.H. Newell Father Son Holy Gore The Butterfly Effect looks at the power of memory, the repercussions of events from our past that bleed into the present. Rated: 3.5/5 May 5, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+) audience reviews
Zach B A really interesting movie with a unique take on the classic time travel concept twisting it into its own excellent film exploring different parts of the human physique and how all of how own actions effect others around us. The only flaw in this film is that it falls into the same trap as every other time travel film, that being it doesn't make sense as paradoxes would occur based on the logic introduced in the film. However, this film cannot be criticised for this as to date very few films have ever created a perfect movie that involves time travel which is why this film comes highly recommended. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/25/24 Full Review Hadyn C Brilliant movie! No idea why RT has scored it so low, I absolutely love this movie! The theme, music, everything about it. Definitely Ashton Kutchers best film to date. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/23/24 Full Review Audience Member Uma ideia genial, muito interessante o efeito borboleta, o fato de você poder mudar o mundo por uma pequena diferente escolha feita é sensacional. Não me agradou o enredo do filme e nem tanto a atuação, infelizmente uma ideia genial que acabou sendo desperdiçada. Um filme que prometeu muito mas não entregou quase nada. atuação: 1,5 imagem: 1,5 enredo: 1 experiência pessoal: 1,5 TOTAL: 5,5/10 Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 05/20/24 Full Review Eduarda O This review may contain spoilers. Vamos lá: a nota que estou dando é altíssima por ser um tema que seja muito de meu interesse. Não é à toa que tenho uma tatuagem sobre. A ideia do filme é espetacular, e por conta disso, mantém-nos presos à tela. Da mesma forma que a premissa é ótima, da para se notar no início ao fim que o filme apresenta traços fortíssimos de amadorismo. Com toda certeza, com um ator menor medíocre e um diretor melhor, seria um FILMASSO. E essa palavra nem existe. Um grande agravante para eu diminuir minha nota: os personagens são muito convenientes e exagerados. MUITO. Parece que todos eles rodam - de fato - em torno das escolhas do personagem principal, e qualquer escolha que o mesmo faça é o suficiente par alterar por COMPLETO suas vidas já que dependem das ações dele. Tudo, TUDO, gira em torno do Evan, o que é uma ideia que eu absolutamente não comprei e achei que afetou demais minha experiência com o filme. Então quer dizer que um pedófilo doente deixou de ser um pois uma criança de oito anos hablou na cara dele? Ainda nisso, se a criança disse que ele não deveria abusar da filha, logo ele entende que está tudo bem abusar por completo do filho? Se tal coisa acontecer o maninho é internado e acaba com a sua vida, ou fica louco no próprio quarto ou come a namorada do personagem principal?? Colorindo um pouco mais o que estou dizendo: esse extremismo que as ações dele geram faz com que se torne muito fácil de distinguir quando pode voltar no tempo e quando não é preciso. Do tipo: se eu voltei, dei uma lâmina na mão do mano e por fim ele ficou louco, então é só eu voltar um pouco antes e não deixar ele bravinho. Perde a graça. No geral, como eu disse, a ideia do filme é ótima: Eu compro pra caralho o fato de ele voltar no tempo pelos diários (E com tamanha facilidade. Sei que muita gente julga isso mas nah). O filme pode mostrar alguns temas iniciais que podem afastar o telespectador, como uma criança meio psicopata com uma faca, mas a maneira que nos é apresentada é excelente e mesmo as pessoas que pensam em sair e trocar de filme, não o fazem. Isso dada à curiosidade que desperta em nós com os apagões. Queremos descobrir o que são eles. Um filme bom, mas poderia ser 100x melhor. Uma pena. A MÚSICA FINAL DO FILME É FANTÁSTICA !!!!! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/13/24 Full Review Dan R 'The Butterfly Effect' is an intriguing look at the effects of changing events from your past, and as with any film involving time, things get messy. SYNOPSIS: 'Evan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.' Looking at the power of the human memory, Kutcher's character delves back into some of the darkest periods of his life with his changes to the past having some catastrophic effects. Whether this is time travel or something more spiritual is never really explained. Unfortunately, the story does feel like it's all over the place with the true meaning of the butterfly effect theory seemingly being missed completely. New Line Cinema clearly had a lot of hope for this film, and wanted it to become a franchise maybe along the line of the 'Final Destination' franchise. Unfortunately, all that was delivered was two straight to DVD sequels. However, it would not surprise me if a studio went and remade this in the future. An interesting premise that's just delivered poorly. 5/10 Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/14/24 Full Review Zombie J While it's not without a few noticeable plot holes, the movie manages to be quite enjoyable and definitely worth a watch. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Butterfly Effect

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis College student Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is afflicted with headaches so painful that he frequently blacks out. While unconscious, Evan is able to travel back in time to difficult moments in his childhood. He can also alter the past for friends, like Kayleigh (Amy Smart), who was molested by her father (Eric Stoltz). But changing the past can drastically alter the present, and Evan finds himself in nightmarish alternate realities, including one where he's locked away in prison.
Director
Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Producer
Chris Bender, A.J. Dix, J.C. Spink, Anthony Rhulen
Screenwriter
Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Distributor
New Line Cinema
Production Co
Katalyst Films, Blackout Entertainment, Benderspink, Film Engine
Rating
R (Language|Brief Drug Use|Sexual Content|Violence)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 23, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA)
$57.7M
Runtime
1h 53m
Sound Mix
Surround, DTS, Dolby SRD, SDDS
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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