Thursday, 1 July 2004
The Butterfly Effect
I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that Ashton Kutcher's career arc could be an early warning sign for the approaching apocalypse. How else to explain Demi Moore's dumping Bruce Willis for this boy toy (wait, I guess I just explained that one), the popularity "Punk'd," or a movie that portrays Ashton as a genius psychology student?
There are some movies that require suspension of disbelief for full enjoyment, such as Star Wars or Edward Scissorhands. Others demand suspension of disbelief for even partial enjoyment, such as most teen-sploitation sex comedies or the last ten years of Woody Allen's body of work. And then there is The Butterfly Effect.
If Ashton had donned fishnets and broken into campy songs, I'd have let out an audible sigh of relief - for there would be the knowing wink-wink that I was in on the joke and I could simply wait for Meatloaf's roaring motorcycle entrance. But that fourth wall remained stubbornly standing throughout the whole film, impervious to the hail of glares that we, the audience, threw at it in waves. Any laughter on our part was quickly followed by a pang of guilt, as if we'd realized that we were laughing at some Special Olympics runner who'd just tripped over his shoelaces.
It's not like any one of us had arrived expecting a Gen-Y retelling of A Beautiful Mind (which, for that matter, had its own problems). But the filmmakers could have at least taken the route of the justly titled Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (Keanu Reeves's only role that reasonably matches his acting skills), and simply chucked the script and gone for the gold. Hell, it worked with Dude, Where's My Car? - which had me rolling in the aisles with laughter. That sure beats doubling over in pain as I forced myself to watch the entirety of this earnest scientist with a Messiah complex.
It's hard to figure out who's more to blame: those responsible for making this film, or myself for actually thinking "ah, how bad could it be?" and seeing it. We'll call it even; no grudges as long as Ashton promises more silly fun like "Dude, ...".
1 / 5 - Ashton, save your emoting for making doe-eyes at Demi; at least she buys it (apparently)