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As he grows up, Evan (Lerman, Amedori, then Kutcher) suffers from a series of strange blackouts that leave his memory blank during key events in his life. Now studying psychology in university, he stumbles on an ability to revisit those blackout periods ... and to change things. But this sets off a butterfly effect (the cause-and-effect theory that the flutter of a tiny wing can start a hurricane on the other side of the world) and he wakes up in a changed present reality. Now he's frantically trying to alter the past to create the best possible present. But it seems to just be getting worse. And worse!

The idea is so clever that it completely sucks us in, even though the filmmakers never really bother to dig beneath the surface. It's like Donnie Darko Light--a look at fate and destiny but in a way that won't make you think at all. Kutcher commands the screen and even catches some subtle nuances in both the comic and dramatic scenes, although he can't quite reach the emotional highs or lows. As Evan's childhood pals, Smart, Henson and Scott all get much meatier roles, since their various realities are much more divergent.

As a whole, the film is fascinating enough to keep our interest, even though Gruber and Bress seem far too excited by their ideas to tell a proper story. They can't resist throwing in just one more alternate reality, and then one more, making the film feel too long as it circles around and says the same thing over and over again. Yes, the inventiveness is great fun, but their indulgence exposes them as first-time directors. If they'd have been more ruthless in their story editing, this could have been much stronger. And they'd have had all their other ideas for a spin-off TV series.