The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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 Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

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The Butterfly Effect

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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

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The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Nell Minow Common Sense Media Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. So very bad. Rated: 1/5 Dec 28, 2010 Full Review The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Empire Magazine Rated: 2/5 Apr 1, 2006 Full Review The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Jonathan Crocker BBC.com Lobotomised entertainment that's dark, violent, and hilariously dumb. Rated: 2/5 Apr 13, 2004 Full Review The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (4) 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 The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (5) 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 The Butterfly Effect | Rotten Tomatoes (6) 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

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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 4.5/5 Stars • 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 5/5 Stars • 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: 1,5imagem: 1,5enredo: 1experiência pessoal: 1,5TOTAL: 5,5/10 Rated 2.5/5 Stars • 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 3.5/5 Stars • 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 2.5/5 Stars • 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 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Butterfly Effect

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Cast & Crew

Eric Bress Director J. Mackye Gruber Director Ashton Kutcher Evan Treborn Amy Smart Kayleigh Miller Eric Stoltz George Miller William Lee Scott Tommy Miller
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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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