Light as a Butterfly
Ashton Kutcher Branches Out in New Thriller

The new lightweight thriller The Butterfly Effect will probably be remembered more for being the movie where actor Ashton Kutcher graduated from teen comedies to teen psychological thrillers than for being a great movie.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad movie. On the contrary, The Butterfly Effect does an admirable job of making audience members wonder about how their own lives would be different if they could go back in time and change the outcomes of individual events.

In this case the past involves Kutcher’s character, Evan Treborn, and three of his childhood friends. A number of bad scenarios play themselves out in the lives of Evan, Lenny (Elden Henson), Tommy (William Lee Scott) and Kayleigh (Amy Smart). Unfortunately, Evan has a bad habit of blacking out under stress and is not able to influence the outcome of each life-altering event.

A psychologist urges young Evan to keep a journal to help him record the events leading up to his blackouts. Years later as a college student, Evan re-examines his journals only to find that they have the power to thrust him back in time to those crucial moments when he blacked out. By changing the events of a day long ago, he finds that his entire future—and that of his mother and three friends—unfolds differently as a result.

It’s an intriguing premise and one that has been explored for years in science fiction stories and movies. Here the concept is dumbed down a little so that the average teenage Kutcher fan can grasp all the subtleties. That’s quite all right, though, since it gives the movie a new, personal, non-scientific angle to work with.

Kutcher, one of the producers of The Butterfly Effect, shows he can handle the duties of leading man in a movie where he is required to do more than say “Dude!” and make goofy faces. He gets a lot of help here from Smart, a young actress who deftly portrays the many faceted possibilities of Kayleigh’s future.

Kutcher has emerged as one of the true young power players in the entertainment industry. He started his voyage into the public eye just a few years ago as Kelso, one of the secondary characters on the hugely successful Fox sit-com That 70s Show. Since then he has parlayed his good looks and comic timing into a career that is the envy of many young Hollywood stars. He has over a half dozen feature films under his belt and his own Candid Camera-style MTV show Punk’d gave the music television network one of its only legitimate hits of the past few seasons. Kutcher is savvy enough to know when to quit and ended Punk’d’s run after only two seasons. Many of his movies such as Dude, Where’s My Car? and My Boss’s Daughter are disposable teenage fluff, but Kutcher’s career moves seem to be steps toward solid career.

The Butterfly Effect is rated R for violence, sexual content and brief drug use and is currently playing at Regal Cinemas in Boone.

Tenacious D on Video

In just a few short years comic actor Jack Black has gone from playing second and third banana roles in movies like High Fidelity to starring in his own hit films like School of Rock and Shallow Hal. Black fans interested in a glimpse at the wild man’s roots should rent the new video Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks. Tenacious D was a two-man hard rock group featuring Black and partner Kyle Gass in the late 90s and that continues to tour sporadically.

The Complete Masterworks follows the “D” from its humble open mic night beginnings to its latter day world tour. The video is divided into sections based on the band’s HBO skits, music videos, live shows, television appearances, and other adventures. The best part is the music video section featuring videos for the songs “Tribute,” “Wonderboy,” “FHG” and others complete with “the making of” documentaries for “Tribute” and “Wonderboy.”

Clocking in at a remarkable three hours and 45 minutes, The Complete Masterworks is a hilarious introduction to the heavy metal stylings of a band that cared as much about entertaining themselves as entertaining an audience. Be warned, however, some of the skits and the animated video to “FHG” are extremely raunchy and not appropriate for younger fans of School of Rock.

Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks is available on VHS and DVD.