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The Butterfly Effect

2004 1h 53m
Science Fiction Thriller
MOVIEVIBE Rating
7.6/10
8,504 reviews
Your Rating
The Butterfly Effect

A young man struggles to access sublimated childhood memories. He finds a technique that allows him to travel back into the past, to occupy his childhood body and change history. However, he soon finds that every change he makes has unexpected consequences.

"Change one thing. Change everything."

Top Billed Cast

Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher
Evan Treborn
Amy Smart
Amy Smart
Kayleigh Miller
Melora Walters
Melora Walters
Andrea Treborn
Elden Henson
Elden Henson
Lenny Kagan
William Lee Scott
William Lee Scott
Tommy Miller
Eric Stoltz
Eric Stoltz
George Miller
Ethan Suplee
Ethan Suplee
Thumper
Logan Lerman
Logan Lerman
Evan Treborn age 7

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

J John Chard Verified TMDB Critic
2020-04-26

You can't change who people are without destroying who they were.

The Butterfly Effect - Directors Cut

The Butterfly Effect is directed by Eric Bress and Bress co-writes the screenplay with J. Mackye Gruber. It stars Ashton Kutcher, Melora Walters, Amy Smart, Elden Henson, William Lee Scott, Eric Stoltz and Ethan Suplee. Music is by Michael Suby and cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti.


The title refers to the butterfly effect, the chaos theory of a popular hypothetical situation that illustrates how small initial differences may lead to large unforeseen consequences over time. T...

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2024-08-12

"Evan" (Ashton Kutcher) has had a troubled existence thus far in his young life, and is prone to blackouts. These seem to take chunks of his day away from him as he comes back to a consciousness unaware of what has just taken place, or even where he is! He tries to fill in the gaps by writing in his journal what could have happened then miraculously finds himself back at that exact time and place. It's almost as if these memory lapses were just missing pieces of his jigsaw puzzle that he must go and relive, retrospectively, and infill. The thing is, though, he doesn't readily consider the impa...

A AlfaVitaY2K Verified TMDB Critic
2026-05-29

A brutal, high concept psychological Sci-Fi thriller that’s genuinely genius. Ashton Kutcher delivers his best dramatic performance as Evan Treborn, a man who discovers he can rewrite his traumatic past through his diary, only to cause cascading disasters in the present. Smart script, tight direction by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, and a relentless downward spiral that keeps you hooked.

The original theatrical ending is perfect. Bleak, logical, and thematically airtight. It respects the butterfly effect premise without cheapening it. The director added several absurd, jokey alternate ...