EV @ The Movies: The Butterfly Effect

When I heard that "That 70's Show" star Ashton Kutcher was going to be in a serious movie, I practically killed myself. This is the guy who was in comedy classics like Dude, Where's My Car? and My Boss's Daughter! This is Kelso, for Christ's sake! Leave the drama for the actors who can handle it, like Ben Affleck.

Still, even though I had already decided I would hate the film, I decided to see it anyway. And brother, I'm glad that I did. Never listen to those critics who tell you what kind of movie a certain movie is supposed to be, because they're often wrong. A good example of this is Legally Blonde 2, which was supposed to be a comedy but was actually a political thriller. Such is the case with The Butterfly Effect, which is in fact not a drama, but a hilarious comedy!

The title refers to the fact that in the 70's, a butterfly was thought to send you back in time, which is exactly what Kelso (played brilliantly by Kutcher) does. He goes back in time to try and get back together with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Jackie (played for some reason by Amy Smart). Oh, Jeez! Not those two again!

But guess what? There is a little person named Hyde who was not okay with that idea, since he was currently dating Jackie when Kelso went back in time. In this movie, Hyde put on a lot of weight and started dressing like a goth person, which I took to be a political commentary on how even in the 1970's and in the other time periods that Kelso traveled to, goths always existed, and they were mean and weird. At first I was angry that the movie tried to make me think about these things, but I soon forgot about that when Eric's dad Red came on the screen and talked about kicking his ass! You're in trouble again, Eric!

As Kelso travels in and out of time in his Volkswagen van, he sees that no matter how hard he tries, Jackie gets in worse and worse shape, eventually ending up to be a crack-whore in the city. At this point, I accepted the fact that the movie was going to make me think, but to my surprise it did not confuse me as much as I thought it would. Instead, it blew my mind completely. I would say that this movie is about as intelligent as the second two Matrix movies, which were pretty smart! Notice I did not say the first Matrix movie, which was weird and disturbing.

The movie took advantage of the fact that it was in the theatre and not on television by including as many disturbing scenes as possible, such as a graphic child-pornography scene and many shots of Hyde having sex with goth girls. I appreciated this effort by the directors, and it really made the film more emotional for me. Also, Kelso kept saying, "When this van's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'!" which just got me every time. Even funnier was that Fez, the wacky foreigner, kept mixing it up by saying, "When this van's a-knockin', don't come a-rockin'!" Kelso and the rest of the guys laughed at him, because he was a foreigner and not as smart as them. It was a good point.

At the film's end, Kelso and Jackie do not get back together, but they do end up being friends. Donna and Eric are able to remain together, although Eric still has to put up with constant threats of child-abuse from his father. Finally, Hyde realized that being a fat goth was not as fun as it looked, and resolved to stop being weird. It was a satisfactory ending, except for that I would've liked to see a scene in which Fez came in and said some wacky foreigner thing, and everyone else would've said, "Here we go aaagaaaain!"

Time travel is useful, but only when used responsibly. That was the lesson of this movie, and I think it's a lesson that was conveyed well. Kelso has put his skills as an actor to the ultimate test, and they have paid off. Now let's see him star with his mom OOPS I MEAN GIRLFRIEND HAHAHA Demi Moore! Whooo!!!

Overall Rating: A+

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