Z/Web

Not a bad film. I liked the concept: a boy suffers from memory blackouts, moments of time where he can’t remember what he was doing. Since his father was insane, the boy’s mother is worried. The doctors suggest the boy keep a daily journal of every activity to help stimulate his memory. Eventually the blackouts stop and boy grows up. While he’s in college (majoring in psychology) he studies his old journals and discovers he can go back in time and relive those experiences and even change what happened. When a friend commits suicide, he goes back in time seeing answers and tries to change things so she won’t have been sexually abused by her father and commit suicide. It works, at least on the surface, but he soon learns that other things have changed as well, especially in his own life. So he’s forced to go back in time again and again, trying to fix things, but each time screwing up it worse. The idea, of course, is that the smallest change in the past brings forth a completely new future. What I really liked about the film was the way they did that, and the fact that the childhood blackouts corresponded to the times he goes back to change things — that’s why he couldn’t remember. Very cool, though it is a circular plot (because the blackouts “cause” him to write the journal and later use it go back in time, etc. yet the blackouts are caused by his going back in time). I love time paradoxes, though. The ending’s okay, though abrupt. I’d have liked to see the ending show a few more differences in his life (i.e. a different girlfriend, etc.) just to show that that one change also changed other things. The film’s not as dramatic as the promos make it sound (the supporting cast is better than Ashton Kutcher, though he’s surprisingly not as bad as you might expect). I really liked the way the supporting cast each had to play multiple characters, showing how Ashton’s changes changed their characters. Overall, while there’s some decent acting and a good story, the film relies on its gimmick too much. It tries too hard (Ashton especially). Still, it’s not bad and it’s good fun. Recommended.