From the infamous grandfather paradox to accidentally creating a timeline where Ned Flanders rules the world, there’s an element of existential horror to every single time travel story. However, it seems that most filmmakers prefer to focus on the exciting adventure aspects of these mind-bending yarns, as very few films choose to explore the terrifying personal ramifications of going back in time to mess with events in your own life.
Obviously, there are several exceptions to this “rule,” and one of the most entertaining just happens to be Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber’s sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect, an under-appreciated relic of the 2000s that I think has aged into a much better movie than most folks give it credit for. And now that we have two decades of hindsight regarding time travel cinema, I’d like to take a look back on this weird little flick...
Obviously, there are several exceptions to this “rule,” and one of the most entertaining just happens to be Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber’s sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect, an under-appreciated relic of the 2000s that I think has aged into a much better movie than most folks give it credit for. And now that we have two decades of hindsight regarding time travel cinema, I’d like to take a look back on this weird little flick...
- 2/27/2024
- by Luiz H. C.
- bloody-disgusting.com
Last month, we dug into the making of the 2006 horror film Final Destination 3 with an episode of our Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? video series. Now we’re winding the clock back three more years to give 2003’s Final Destination 2 (watch it Here) the Wtf treatment! To find out all about Final Destination 2, check out the video embedded above.
Directed by David R. Ellis from a screenplay by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress (with Jeffrey Reddick also receiving story credit), Final Destination 2 has the following synopsis: Kimberly has a premonition of a horrible highway accident killing multiple people — including her and her friends. She blocks the cars behind her on the ramp from joining traffic — and as a police trooper arrives, the accident actually happens. Now, Death is stalking this group of mistaken survivors — and one by one they are dying as they were supposed to on the highway.
Directed by David R. Ellis from a screenplay by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress (with Jeffrey Reddick also receiving story credit), Final Destination 2 has the following synopsis: Kimberly has a premonition of a horrible highway accident killing multiple people — including her and her friends. She blocks the cars behind her on the ramp from joining traffic — and as a police trooper arrives, the accident actually happens. Now, Death is stalking this group of mistaken survivors — and one by one they are dying as they were supposed to on the highway.
- 2/13/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Forget flux capacitors and sports almanacs. Where these underrated time travel movies are going, you don't need mainstream references. This year-hopping corner of cinema may be predominantly dominated by Marty and the Doc's souped-up DeLorean and emotionless machines sent back in time to kill us, but take a deeper look and you'll find a range of stories that take time travel to some pretty unexpected places.
If we were to have our way, this list wouldn't be quite as brief. After all, with the entire space-time continuum at their fingertips, you'd think filmmakers would've put a little more effort into mining time travel for the full mind-bending potential the genre contains. However, as it stands, truly left-field adventures can often seem few and far between.
That said, we're lucky to have a handful of movies that use time and space as a jumping-off point to tell tales that are wild,...
If we were to have our way, this list wouldn't be quite as brief. After all, with the entire space-time continuum at their fingertips, you'd think filmmakers would've put a little more effort into mining time travel for the full mind-bending potential the genre contains. However, as it stands, truly left-field adventures can often seem few and far between.
That said, we're lucky to have a handful of movies that use time and space as a jumping-off point to tell tales that are wild,...
- 8/24/2022
- by Simon Bland
- Slash Film
Groundhog Day and 10 more films about time, dreams, and perceptionGroundhog Day and 10 more films about time, dreams, and perceptionAdriana Floridia2/2/2018 11:30:00 Am
Today is Groundhog Day, where the myth lives on that a groundhog who sees his shadow will doom us to a longer winter than we deserve. Then there is Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, the film in which Bill Murray’s weatherman, Phil Connors mysteriously finds himself living the same day over and over again. On a traditional level the movie is a comedy, but it actually touches upon some really dark philosophical themes. It’s estimated by the filmmakers that Phil lives the same day for 10 years.
In honour of Groundhog Day, we’re taking a look back at ten other films that deal with time, memory, dreams, and repeated experiences. While there may be no film that tackles the topic as precisely as Groundhog Day, these...
Today is Groundhog Day, where the myth lives on that a groundhog who sees his shadow will doom us to a longer winter than we deserve. Then there is Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, the film in which Bill Murray’s weatherman, Phil Connors mysteriously finds himself living the same day over and over again. On a traditional level the movie is a comedy, but it actually touches upon some really dark philosophical themes. It’s estimated by the filmmakers that Phil lives the same day for 10 years.
In honour of Groundhog Day, we’re taking a look back at ten other films that deal with time, memory, dreams, and repeated experiences. While there may be no film that tackles the topic as precisely as Groundhog Day, these...
- 2/2/2018
- by Adriana Floridia
- Cineplex
While Jonathan Gruber‘s day job is that of economics professor at MIT, is better known in cable news circles as a “key architect” for Obamacare. Today he joined CNN host Jon Berman and former Cbo Director Doug Holtz-Eakin to discuss the Gop’s new health care reform bill to be rolled out by the Senate later […]...
- 6/22/2017
- by Colby Hall
- Mediaite - TV
Groundhog Day and 10 more films about time, dreams, and perceptionGroundhog Day and 10 more films about time, dreams, and perceptionAdriana Floridia2/2/2017 10:30:00 Am
Today is Groundhog Day, where the myth lives on that a groundhog who sees his shadow will doom us to a longer winter than we deserve. Then there is Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, the film in which Bill Murray’s weatherman, Phil Connors mysteriously finds himself living the same day over and over again. On a traditional level the movie is a comedy, but it actually touches upon some really dark philosophical themes. It’s estimated by the filmmakers that Phil lives the same day for 10 years.
In honour of Groundhog Day, we’re taking a look back at ten other films that deal with time, memory, dreams, and repeated experiences. While there may be no film that tackles the topic as precisely as Groundhog Day, these...
Today is Groundhog Day, where the myth lives on that a groundhog who sees his shadow will doom us to a longer winter than we deserve. Then there is Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, the film in which Bill Murray’s weatherman, Phil Connors mysteriously finds himself living the same day over and over again. On a traditional level the movie is a comedy, but it actually touches upon some really dark philosophical themes. It’s estimated by the filmmakers that Phil lives the same day for 10 years.
In honour of Groundhog Day, we’re taking a look back at ten other films that deal with time, memory, dreams, and repeated experiences. While there may be no film that tackles the topic as precisely as Groundhog Day, these...
- 2/2/2017
- by Adriana Floridia
- Cineplex
Remember the boy with no belly button? Ten years ago, Kyle Xy debuted on ABC Family.
Created by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, the sci-fi teen drama centered on Kyle (Matt Dallas), a mysterious young man who wakes up naked and with no memories in a forest outside Seattle. The cast also included Marguerite MacIntyre, Bruce Thomas, April Matson, and Kirsten Prout.
Read More…...
Created by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, the sci-fi teen drama centered on Kyle (Matt Dallas), a mysterious young man who wakes up naked and with no memories in a forest outside Seattle. The cast also included Marguerite MacIntyre, Bruce Thomas, April Matson, and Kirsten Prout.
Read More…...
- 6/27/2016
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
Sarah Dobbs Mar 16, 2019
The one with the plane crash or the one with the bridge? We try to figure out which of the Final Destination movies is the best…
Final Destination is the most existential horror franchise of them all. Its characters don’t get to hope for survival if they can outrun a man with a knife or shoot a zombie square in the head – they’re being hunted by Death itself, and there’s no escape.
The Final Destination franchise masks its incredibly bleak message with bright colors and inventive Mousetrap-style killings, but at heart, they’re about how everyone dies one day, and the whole world is out to get you. Hardly anyone lives to the end of a Final Destination movie; the ones that do generally have to go to extreme measures, and it’s implied they won’t last long beyond the credits.
Given the...
The one with the plane crash or the one with the bridge? We try to figure out which of the Final Destination movies is the best…
Final Destination is the most existential horror franchise of them all. Its characters don’t get to hope for survival if they can outrun a man with a knife or shoot a zombie square in the head – they’re being hunted by Death itself, and there’s no escape.
The Final Destination franchise masks its incredibly bleak message with bright colors and inventive Mousetrap-style killings, but at heart, they’re about how everyone dies one day, and the whole world is out to get you. Hardly anyone lives to the end of a Final Destination movie; the ones that do generally have to go to extreme measures, and it’s implied they won’t last long beyond the credits.
Given the...
- 4/17/2015
- Den of Geek
Katie Cates joins Resolution from the Kaplan Stahler Agency. She brings with her clients Daniel Knauf, showrunner of NBC’s Dracula and creator of HBO’s Carnivale; William Schmidt; female comedy duo Magee & Millan (Us & Them); Crevello & Niedermeyer (NBC’s The Fifth Wheel); J. Mackye Gruber (The Butterfly Effect); and Brown & Todd (Defiance). Prior to Kaplan Stahler, Cates was a coordinator at Gersh. She joins another recent Resolution TV lit hire, veteran Paradigm agent Ian Greenstein. Related: Resolution Takes ICM To Court Over Commissions Claims...
- 10/23/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
The Butterfly Effect starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart is getting a remake, reports Variety. Why though, I have no idea. The original film is some of Jobs star Kutcher's best work and one of the more memorable sci-fi thrillers I've seen. Still, at least Eric Bress, who wrote and directed the original film with J. Mackye Gruber, is on board again as a writer. Also back on board are producers A.J. Dix, Anthony Rhulen, Chris Bender and Jc Spink. The first film also included Elden Henson and Melora Walters, which then got a sequel. This remake has no director on board as yet. In The Butterfly Effect, Evan Treborn (Kutcher) has a life filled with empty spaces due to the fact that he's blocked out horendous childhood events from an early age. A child psychologist tells his mother to encourage...
- 7/26/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Warner Bros has release several .thriller. and .action. titles to Blu-ray . including The Astronauts Wife, The Butterfly Effect, The Butterfly Effect 2, A Perfect Murder, Frequency, Just Cause, Hard to Kill, Next of Kin and Murder in the First. All the films look and sound great on the Blu-ray format and arrive at a price to make the Blu-ray worth adding to your collection. They come with a variety of special features, but nothing new to add to a reason to pick them up. The Butterfly Effect . Released in 2004 and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, The Butterfly Effect features a solid sci-fi story with a great ending, but suffers from the...
- 9/19/2012
- by Patrick Luce
- Monsters and Critics
The Butterfly Effect is one of the latest movies to get the high-definition treatment from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It was available as a Canadian import as far back as 2009 but now it comes directly from the U.S. This new Blu-ray version comes with both the Director's Cut and the theatrical version. It also has an impressive amount of special features included.
Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) suffered from blackouts and memory loss most of his childhood. He keeps a diary of the events so he can read them later and remember what he did. After heading off to college, he begins to have the blackouts again. Evan soon realizes he has the ability to alter reality through time-travel.
Directors / writers Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber created quite a thought-provoking and suspenseful movie here. It makes you think about your actions in life and the sort of repercussions they have on those around us.
Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) suffered from blackouts and memory loss most of his childhood. He keeps a diary of the events so he can read them later and remember what he did. After heading off to college, he begins to have the blackouts again. Evan soon realizes he has the ability to alter reality through time-travel.
Directors / writers Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber created quite a thought-provoking and suspenseful movie here. It makes you think about your actions in life and the sort of repercussions they have on those around us.
- 8/3/2012
- by feeds@themoviepool.com (Eric Shirey)
- Cinelinx
The Butterfly Effect might very well be one of the most under-rated science fictions of the past decade. Directors Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber may have never recovered from the critical back-lashing the film received upon release in 2004, but I for one think they may have made a rare original film in a sea that’s over-populated now with remakes and re-imaginings. The Butterfly Effect is a dark and depressing time travel story that deals with fate and how changing one thing might lead to changing everything. Topping off the already good movie is the Director’s Cut of the film, which includes one of the most anti-Hollywood endings I’ve ever seen. It’s a little over-the-top and silly, but it’s one of the most depressing and unflinching endings I’ve yet to see in mainstream release.
Evan (Ashton Kutcher) has never been able to live a normal life.
Evan (Ashton Kutcher) has never been able to live a normal life.
- 7/17/2012
- by Jeremy Lebens
- We Got This Covered
According to a contemptuously written article from the Associated Press, Jonathan Gruber, an economic adviser to President Obama, will be scripting a comic book that explains and advocates for health care reform. The article goes on to say that Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It's Necessary, How it Works was pitched to Gruber by Macmillan imprint Hill & Wang, which plans to publish the book this fall.
The AP reporter, one Steve LeBlanc, makes haste to reassure people that despite the "pulpy panache" of comic books and their usual association with "superheroes in tights," the use of the format for a serious subject isn’t “as unusual as it sounds.” And then there’s the usual allusion to Maus. Yes, it’s very nice that Maus won the Pulitzer in 1992, but surely we can bring up more recent examples. Hello, Persepolis? Epileptic ? The oeuvre of Joe Sacco? Spiegelman’s later work,...
The AP reporter, one Steve LeBlanc, makes haste to reassure people that despite the "pulpy panache" of comic books and their usual association with "superheroes in tights," the use of the format for a serious subject isn’t “as unusual as it sounds.” And then there’s the usual allusion to Maus. Yes, it’s very nice that Maus won the Pulitzer in 1992, but surely we can bring up more recent examples. Hello, Persepolis? Epileptic ? The oeuvre of Joe Sacco? Spiegelman’s later work,...
- 2/9/2011
- by Amy Goldschlager
- Comicmix.com
While The Black List may be getting most of the press from entertainment news circles when it's announced in December, there's another compilation of the best new ideas and writing being offered to Hollywood movie studios and producers. It's called The Hit List (Thl), and it differs from The Black List in one fundamental way: whereas The Black List (Tbl) is a list of the top unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, several of the screenplays on that list have been purchased or are in development.
Take a look at last year's Black List (Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here) and here we are, one year later, and several of the scripts that made the 2009 list will be coming out in 2011 -- or have already been released (like The Social Network or Due Date). The Hit List is different in that it seeks to give attention to spec screenplays -- that is,...
Take a look at last year's Black List (Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here) and here we are, one year later, and several of the scripts that made the 2009 list will be coming out in 2011 -- or have already been released (like The Social Network or Due Date). The Hit List is different in that it seeks to give attention to spec screenplays -- that is,...
- 12/12/2010
- by Patrick Sauriol
- Corona's Coming Attractions
Human nature is a bizarre and wonderful thing. There's a part of us all that likes to be manipulated, and we often allow ourselves to give in to it, even when that manipulation is completely phony and transparent. Where would the movie industry be without our willingness to be manipulated? Chuck Klosterman writes about this in his latest book of his essays, Eating the Dinosaur, specifically with regard to current state of advertising. In that piece, he talks about the evolution of marketing, the invention of media duplicity during the "Mad Men" era, and how it's evolved from that into today's brand of emotional transference; in the modern era, we like a product because it's associated with something else we like (think Air Jordans) not because of its own intrinsic value. "You sell people Pepsi by selling them Obama," he writes, illustrating this principal. "That's the trick, and everyone knows it.
- 3/29/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
One half of the team that brought us Final Destination 2 and The Butterfly Effect is back to wreak more havoc in The Final Destination , the supposedly last entry in New Line's grand guignol franchise. Eric Bress, who penned the second installment with J. Mackye Gruber, spent the last few years since the 2003 sequel cutting his teeth in the director's chair (with Butterfly ) and writing/producing the television series Kyle Xy . He returns to the Destination series with director David Ellis (again, from part 2). And as I came to find out in my chat with Bress this week, the sick bastard still exudes the same passion about devising ways to kill people as he did when I met him six years ago. ShockTillYouDrop.com: You're back, but this time without your writing partner -...
- 8/25/2009
- shocktillyoudrop.com
One of the nice things about being a gay horror filmmaker is, after you hang around awhile, you realize you’re part of a nice little club. And eventually, it feels like you all know each other.
I first met Jeffrey Reddick at a cast and crew screening of one of my films. Paul (Hellbent) Etheredge-Ouzts brought his friend “Jeffrey” to the screening, and we chit-chatted a bit afterward. On the way home my brain added up all the stuff we talked about, and suddenly it clicked—Was that the writer of Final Destination?
Since then we’ve become friends and, in the grand tradition of Hollywood, mainly see each other at screenings and conventions. He’s a busy guy, and kinda sorta has that career that many of us indie flick filmmakers dream of—access to the people who make it happen, and big(ger) budgets.
Jeffrey and I...
I first met Jeffrey Reddick at a cast and crew screening of one of my films. Paul (Hellbent) Etheredge-Ouzts brought his friend “Jeffrey” to the screening, and we chit-chatted a bit afterward. On the way home my brain added up all the stuff we talked about, and suddenly it clicked—Was that the writer of Final Destination?
Since then we’ve become friends and, in the grand tradition of Hollywood, mainly see each other at screenings and conventions. He’s a busy guy, and kinda sorta has that career that many of us indie flick filmmakers dream of—access to the people who make it happen, and big(ger) budgets.
Jeffrey and I...
- 6/4/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Sean Abley)
- Fangoria
Eric Bress has been tapped to write The Alchemyst, New Line Cinema's adaptation of Michael Scott's young-adult fantasy book series The Immortal Nicholas Flamel. Mark Burnett is producing.
The story revolves around a pair of teenage fraternal twins who find themselves caught up in an age-old battle between good and evil as they race across America learning the ancient ways of magic. Along the way they are hunted by creatures and beings from the mythologies of a dozen nations. Nicholas Flamel, a 600-year-old man who looks to be 50, serves as their teacher and guide.
Alchemyst is the first novel in the book series and is due to hit store shelves this month.
Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky and Ileen Maisel are overseeing for New Line.
Burnett's (Survivor) next outing is On the Lot, a reality television show he is exec producing with Steven Spielberg.
Bress, who created the TV series Kyle XY with frequent collaborator J. Mackye Gruber, is the co-writer and co-director of New Line's The Butterfly Effect and the co-writer of the studio's Final Destination 2.
Bress is repped by Endeavor and Benderspink.
The story revolves around a pair of teenage fraternal twins who find themselves caught up in an age-old battle between good and evil as they race across America learning the ancient ways of magic. Along the way they are hunted by creatures and beings from the mythologies of a dozen nations. Nicholas Flamel, a 600-year-old man who looks to be 50, serves as their teacher and guide.
Alchemyst is the first novel in the book series and is due to hit store shelves this month.
Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky and Ileen Maisel are overseeing for New Line.
Burnett's (Survivor) next outing is On the Lot, a reality television show he is exec producing with Steven Spielberg.
Bress, who created the TV series Kyle XY with frequent collaborator J. Mackye Gruber, is the co-writer and co-director of New Line's The Butterfly Effect and the co-writer of the studio's Final Destination 2.
Bress is repped by Endeavor and Benderspink.
- 5/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nick Stahl will star in New Line Pictures' A Cool Breeze on the Underground. Stahl also stars in HBO's Carnivale, which began airing its second season Sunday. Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber are directing Breeze, a thriller, which is being produced by Don Murphy and his Angry Films. Breeze is the first of five mystery novels by Don Winslow, each featuring the character of Neal Carey, the character Stahl is to play. Carey is a 23-year-old graduate student whose college education is paid for by the Bank, an exclusive New England institution that keeps its wealthy clients happy and out of trouble. The Bank also teaches him how to be a private investigator.
Nick Stahl will star in New Line Pictures' A Cool Breeze on the Underground. Stahl also stars in HBO's Carnivale, which began airing its second season Sunday. Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber are directing Breeze, a thriller, which is being produced by Don Murphy and his Angry Films. Breeze is the first of five mystery novels by Don Winslow, each featuring the character of Neal Carey, the character Stahl is to play. Carey is a 23-year-old graduate student whose college education is paid for by the Bank, an exclusive New England institution that keeps its wealthy clients happy and out of trouble. The Bank also teaches him how to be a private investigator.
A Cool Breeze on the Underground has blown into New Line Cinema, along with filmmakers Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber. Bress and Gruber, who wrote and directed The Butterfly Effect for the studio, will polish and helm Underground, which is being produced by Don Murphy and his Angry Films. Underground is the first of five mystery novels by Don Winslow, each featuring the character Neal Carey, a 23-year-old graduate student whose college education is paid for by "The Bank," an exclusive New England institution that keeps its wealthy clients happy and out of trouble. The Bank also gives him an education on how be a private investigator.
- 9/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
FilmEngine has optioned the feature film rights to James Robert Baker's rock 'n' roll novel Fuel Injected Dreams: A Novel, with The Butterfly Effect writer-directors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber on board to adapt and helm. The deal reteams the filmmaker pair with FilmEngine, which produced Butterfly Effect for New Line Cinema. Although the book is billed as a novel, it's been reported that it is loosely based on the life of Phil Spector. The legendary record producer -- famous for his collaborations with the Beatles, Ike and Tina Turner and the Ronettes -- was charged with murder late last year for allegedly shooting actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra, Calif., residence.
- 2/18/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With two new wide releases of moderate expectations hitting theaters in North America this past weekend, it was a fairly lackluster session overall as the total boxoffice for the 96 films tracked by The Hollywood Reporter came to $101 million, an increase of less than 1% from the comparable session in 2003. New Line Cinema's The Butterfly Effect emerged from theaters with $17.1 million on its debut to glide into the top spot. The sci-fi thriller, starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart and helmed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, was in 2,605 theaters. After a solid start in the top spot a week earlier, Universal's Along Came Polly was bumped into the second spot with $16.4 million in hand. The Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston starrer has picked up $53.3 million in 10 days.
- 1/27/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
Friday, Jan. 23
PARK CITY -- Latching on to an absolutely preposterous premise about alternate realities and mysterious mental maladies, the writing-directing team of Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber manufacture an entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism. The only downside to the outrageous story line is the filmmakers' exploitation of extreme criminal behavior, ranging from kiddie porn and pedophilia to animal torture and beatings with baseball bats.
The presence of Ashton Kutcher, who exec produces, ensures solid opening-weekend grosses, but what his fan base will make of this weird melodrama is hard to predict. Certainly, "The Butterfly Effect" goes in the opposite direction of his first two film vehicles, "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Just Married".
Kutcher's Evan Treborn has many missing gaps in his past, blackouts he experiences from an early age where he is unable to recall traumatic events. While brain scans show no abnormalities, his mother (Melora Walters) worries desperately because his father, long ago locked up in a loony bin, experienced similar mental black holes.
A psychologist (Nathaniel Deveaux) suggests that he keep a diary detailing his daily life. In college years later, he happens upon these notebooks and reads a passage. Suddenly, Evan is thrust back in time, reliving an event his mind refused to record. Back in the present and with a nosebleed to show for his time travel, Evan realizes that these blackouts are a kind of bookmark to which he can travel back whenever he reads a passage leading up to an unremembered event.
Inhabiting his childhood body, Evan finds he is able to alter these terrible events and thereby undo the damage done not only to himself but to his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh (Amy Smart), her brother Tommy William Lee Scott) and a neighborhood buddy, Lenny (Elden Henson). The root of all evil here is Kayleigh and Tommy's abusive father (Eric Stoltz). By altering these past incidents, however, Evan returns to a vastly changed present. And each time he thinks he has altered everyone's life for the better, he discovers that he has made some things worse.
There is sly comedy in the idea that altering one event will transform Kayleigh from a bubbly sorority girl to a drug-addicted whore. Or change Tommy from a psycho ex-con to a heroic frat boy. Or transfigure Lenny from a fat, institutionalized killer to a slim and bright student.
Evan himself doesn't change that much other than his choice in wardrobe and roommates. He remains a guy driving himself crazy by trying to create a happy ending but getting outsmarted by uncontrollable chains of events.
Kutcher makes the incredible credible by approaching each of his altered roles with realistic acting. Ditto the rest of the cast, who anchor the wacky transformations with thoroughly believable and engaging performances. Just as the best comedy is delivered with a straight face, the best melodrama is executed with passion and conviction.
In their second feature effect, Bress and Gruber show a flair for the dramatic and the smarts to make the preposterous provocative. Their production team goes for horror-film flourishes such as Michael Suby's nerve-jangling score and Matthew F. Leonetti's dynamic cinematography. Production and costume designers Douglas Higgins and Carla Hetland have a field day creating alternate realities utilizing the same basic locations and sets.
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
New Line Cinema
A Benderspink/FilmEngine productionin association with Katalyst
Credits:
Writer-directors: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Producers: Chris Bender, A.J. Dix, Anthony Rhulen, JC Spink
Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Cale Boyter, William Shively, David Krintzman, Jason Goldberg, Ashton Kutcher
Director of photography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Production designer: Douglas Higgins
Music: Michael Suby
Co-producer: Lisa Richardson
Costume designer: Carla Hetland
Editor: Peter Amundson
Cast:
Evan Treborn: Ashton Kutcher
Kayleigh Miller: Amy Smart
George Miller: Eric Stoltz
Tommy Miller: William Lee Scott
Lenny Kagan: Elden Henson
Thumper: Ethan Suplee
Andrea Treborn: Melora Walters
Dr. Renfield: Nathaniel Deveaux
Running time 113 -- minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Friday, Jan. 23
PARK CITY -- Latching on to an absolutely preposterous premise about alternate realities and mysterious mental maladies, the writing-directing team of Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber manufacture an entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism. The only downside to the outrageous story line is the filmmakers' exploitation of extreme criminal behavior, ranging from kiddie porn and pedophilia to animal torture and beatings with baseball bats.
The presence of Ashton Kutcher, who exec produces, ensures solid opening-weekend grosses, but what his fan base will make of this weird melodrama is hard to predict. Certainly, "The Butterfly Effect" goes in the opposite direction of his first two film vehicles, "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Just Married".
Kutcher's Evan Treborn has many missing gaps in his past, blackouts he experiences from an early age where he is unable to recall traumatic events. While brain scans show no abnormalities, his mother (Melora Walters) worries desperately because his father, long ago locked up in a loony bin, experienced similar mental black holes.
A psychologist (Nathaniel Deveaux) suggests that he keep a diary detailing his daily life. In college years later, he happens upon these notebooks and reads a passage. Suddenly, Evan is thrust back in time, reliving an event his mind refused to record. Back in the present and with a nosebleed to show for his time travel, Evan realizes that these blackouts are a kind of bookmark to which he can travel back whenever he reads a passage leading up to an unremembered event.
Inhabiting his childhood body, Evan finds he is able to alter these terrible events and thereby undo the damage done not only to himself but to his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh (Amy Smart), her brother Tommy William Lee Scott) and a neighborhood buddy, Lenny (Elden Henson). The root of all evil here is Kayleigh and Tommy's abusive father (Eric Stoltz). By altering these past incidents, however, Evan returns to a vastly changed present. And each time he thinks he has altered everyone's life for the better, he discovers that he has made some things worse.
There is sly comedy in the idea that altering one event will transform Kayleigh from a bubbly sorority girl to a drug-addicted whore. Or change Tommy from a psycho ex-con to a heroic frat boy. Or transfigure Lenny from a fat, institutionalized killer to a slim and bright student.
Evan himself doesn't change that much other than his choice in wardrobe and roommates. He remains a guy driving himself crazy by trying to create a happy ending but getting outsmarted by uncontrollable chains of events.
Kutcher makes the incredible credible by approaching each of his altered roles with realistic acting. Ditto the rest of the cast, who anchor the wacky transformations with thoroughly believable and engaging performances. Just as the best comedy is delivered with a straight face, the best melodrama is executed with passion and conviction.
In their second feature effect, Bress and Gruber show a flair for the dramatic and the smarts to make the preposterous provocative. Their production team goes for horror-film flourishes such as Michael Suby's nerve-jangling score and Matthew F. Leonetti's dynamic cinematography. Production and costume designers Douglas Higgins and Carla Hetland have a field day creating alternate realities utilizing the same basic locations and sets.
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
New Line Cinema
A Benderspink/FilmEngine productionin association with Katalyst
Credits:
Writer-directors: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
Producers: Chris Bender, A.J. Dix, Anthony Rhulen, JC Spink
Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Cale Boyter, William Shively, David Krintzman, Jason Goldberg, Ashton Kutcher
Director of photography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Production designer: Douglas Higgins
Music: Michael Suby
Co-producer: Lisa Richardson
Costume designer: Carla Hetland
Editor: Peter Amundson
Cast:
Evan Treborn: Ashton Kutcher
Kayleigh Miller: Amy Smart
George Miller: Eric Stoltz
Tommy Miller: William Lee Scott
Lenny Kagan: Elden Henson
Thumper: Ethan Suplee
Andrea Treborn: Melora Walters
Dr. Renfield: Nathaniel Deveaux
Running time 113 -- minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/16/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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