10 Actors Who Tried Way Too Hard To Be Edgy

9. Ashton Kutcher - The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect Ashton Kutcher
New Line Cinema

Much like Culkin, comedy goofball and venture capitalist Ashton Kutcher tried his hand and getting dark and gritty in the awful 2004 thriller The Butterfly Effect. The convoluted, overwrought sci-fi thriller sees Kutcher's Evan Treborn discovering he has the ability to travel back in time into his younger self and alter events of the past in order to improve the present for him and his friends - with grim consequences.

The Butterfly Effect, for all it could have been an entertaining sci-fi B-movie, frequently fails to understand its own rules and is so full of morbid and distasteful subplots that instead made the film feel creepy and depressing. Kutcher himself felt out of place in the lead role, constantly falling back on the look of gormless confusion that defined his bumbling characters in That '70s Show and Dude, Where's My Car?

He certainly wasn't the reason for the film's failure, as every facet of The Butterfly Effect was sloppy, inconsistent and unappealing. Stick to capitalism, Ashton. It won't endear you to anyone but at least you're quite good at it.

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A self-taught video editor with nearly 25 years of experience, Joe worked in freelance videography for many years before joining WhatCulture in 2018. During that time, he has expanded his work to include both writing and presenting, and has been at the forefront of several new channel launches including WhatCulture Horror and WhatCulture Star Wars, largely defining their visual identity through the design and curation of their bespoke assets. As a dedicated WhatCulture Gaming staff member, he has spearheaded numerous new content strategies and formats, and has taken the lead on various charitable projects that have raised large sums of money for charities close to his heart. Bluesky and Instagram: @jjpinwheel