Evan Treborn is a very troubled young man. He has suffered from blank spots when trying to recall childhood memories his entire life. He has tried counseling and has undergone numerous tests to figure out the problem, but so far he isn’t able to. Early in his life he began to keep a journal, to help remember what he seems to always forget, and in a little more than 20 years he has compiled quite an interesting collection. It’s these journals that not only allow him to unlock and fill in the gaps of his hidden memories but also open a door to actual time travel. Upon making this discovery he also discovers that when he goes back in time to right one wrong, he alters the very fabric of reality for himself and just about everyone around him.

"The Butterfly Effect" is named after a chaos theory, which states ¾ if you subscribe to that notion ¾ if a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, it causes a hurricane or some force of nature in another. That pretty well encapsulates the idea behind this movie. Evan goes back in time, more often than not to in some way better the life of himself or his friends, but the betterment of one usually means the detriment of another, even Evan himself.

I went into this movie not knowing what the heck it was about. The commercials for it don’t give a clear indication of what kind of movie you’re going to see, and after the movie started I still wasn’t quite sure what was going on. As things came into view, however, a very smart and interesting movie began to unfold. I even noticed that Kutcher, the hyper-kinetic star of the classic "Dude, Where’s My Car?" can actually act, a little bit. I’m not saying to nominate him for an Oscar or he’s the next Anthony Hopkins or anything, but he is to be commended for going outside the box and playing a role that required him to cover the entire gamut of emotions from joy to fear, from sorrow to madness. For the sci-fi fans out there, and those who like a movie to entertain their brain and not just their eyes and ears, this is an enjoyable movie.