I'm not sure what is more surprising, that I went to see an Ashton Kutcher movie on opening day, or that I found it compelling.

I assure you that you will not be seeing Dude, Where's My Memory?, and Kutcher is a doggone good actor.

	Dude! You can totally alter the Space-Time Continuum and pick up chicks. Sweet!

Am I going insane? Well, no, but Mr. Demi Moore may be in the film. As a kid, Kutcher would experience blackouts in times of stress, and use journals to try and remember. As an adult he figures out he can inhabit his younger self and alter the outcome for what he thinks would be better. Of course, it never turns out perfect as he hopes, and he has to keep 'fixing' the escalating problems.

I love plotlines about paradoxes about time shifting. It got me through many a good "Star Trek" episode, pondering all the What If? scenarios.

Don't tell me Superman wasn't more satisfied after he turned the world back a day in order to save Lois from the earthquake-caused-ground collapse. And Kutcher certainly believes he can fix the problems around his childhood sweetheart, played older by babe-alicious Amy Smart, her crazy brother Tommy and their friend Lenny.

The premise is always interesting, although in the end the main person always realizes that normal reality was better, or at least "meant to be." At least in that clichéd case, The Butterfly Effect strives to be a little different, and twists the twist you were expecting. Does that make sense?

It's sort of like "The Simpsons" episode where Homer turns a toaster into a time-travel device. Sometimes you should just cut your losses and stop when precipitation is made of doughnuts. Well, not exactly like that, but you get my drift.

At first, during the childhood scenes, the movie seemed awfully hokey, and Melora Walters was delivering an awful acting job as Kutcher's mother.

But then, something happened, as Kutcher showed up and began the time shifting, all those previously-laughable pieces fit together and were important to the story, and in fact were the driving force.

You'll read a lot of negative reviews about The Butterfly Effect, but I think it's because the pro critics are always looking for something else. Ignore some questionable acting skills from some around Kutcher, and enjoy the movie for what it is, a fascinating movie.

I promise, I'm not insane, but should you vehemently disagree with me, I reserve the right to go back in time and change the tone of this review.