There are a lot of fun scenes in The Butterfly Effect, and plenty of people love the film (enough for two sequels to be made, at least). Regardless of that, this is still a film that presents itself as a highly clever time travel movie, then makes a farce of its premise by breaking its own rules. The worst offending scene is when Ashton Kutchers Evan travels back in time, in order to prove his abilities to his cell mate. He goes back to his preschool days, and stabs himself through the hand. Back in the present, scars appear on his hand to prove his point. Yeah, its a cool idea, but the film seems to forget that its own version of time travel doesnt work like that. Why would the scars only just turn up in the prison cell, back in the present day? If he had scarred himself as a child, he would have always had the scars, and his cellmate would already have known about them. Also, going back and stabbing himself would surely have ramifications on Evans life. He wouldve grown up as the kid who stabbed himself. His family would know, and his friends would now. Presumably hed be sent to therapy, and certain details of his entire life would have changed. The film never addresses this, though, because its not as clever as it thinks it is.
