The Butterfly Effect Critic Reviews

The ending is weak, and may be the result of the filmmakers writing themselves into a corner and not wanting to conclude things in a burst of nihilistic excess. Yet, even though it's a cheat, it retains a degree of resonance.Read the full review

There's so much flashing forward and backward, so many spins of fate, so many chapters in the journals, that after awhile I felt that I, as well as time, was being jerked around.Read the full review

Unpleasantness alone doesn't sink a movie. But miserable tidings intensify when there's not only a high ick factor but also floundering storytelling.Read the full review

In its own ridiculous way, The Butterfly Effect is an entertaining movie, despite mediocre acting, lackluster direction and a story that's sometimes frustrating. It has the integrity of camp, maintaining an odd earnestness in the face of its own absurdity.Read the full review

An entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism.Read the full review

With a surprisingly unhappy, anti-Hollywood ending that will appeal to those who like things dark.Read the full review

Kutcher is the wrong actor to anchor a psychological freak-out. Read the full review

Impressively sets a new standard for time travel gone awry.Read the full review

This overwrought and egregiously self-serious thriller about the poisonous fruit borne of child abuse grows more ridiculous by the quarter-hour and is poised for a theatrical life span scarcely longer than that of its eponymous insect.Read the full review