Chaos Theory (2007)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Dead A

  
  It was enjoyable indeed.

• Manu G

  
  He planned his life like clockwork. Now things are going cuckoo. Good movie. Ryan Reynolds can do comedy and drama and in the same movie too, reminds me of Cary Grant. The story is quite bizarre but good and with a nice ending. The sort of climax of the movie is quite superb. You see… More
  He planned his life like clockwork. Now things are going cuckoo. Good movie. Ryan Reynolds can do comedy and drama and in the same movie too, reminds me of Cary Grant. The story is quite bizarre but good and with a nice ending. The sort of climax of the movie is quite superb. You see great dramadic acting, and a clever script to boot. No, not a clever script, but a sincere one. Its writing makes this movie more of a comedic romance than a romantic comedy. If you don't understand that distinction, you will after watching this movie. Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) is a professional speaker who lectures on time management and he lives by example by perfectly maximizing his efficiency through scheduling and planning his own life down to the minute. One day when his wife Susan (Emily Mortimer) decides to set the alarm clock back 10 minutes, in hopes of giving her husband an extra ten minutes of time in the morning; she accomplishes the exact opposite. From missing the ferry to arriving late to his lecture on time management, Frank experiences an off day. While driving home, he sees a pregnant woman in need of help of getting to the hospital and he decides to offer the stranger a lift. At the hospital, Frank is asked to fill out some paper work, and not thinking much about his situation, he puts his own information down and the nurses at the hospital misunderstand and assume he is the father. The following morning, before Frank arrives home, a nurse from the hospital calls attempting to reach him and his wife answers the phone. The nurse, in trying to contact who she thought was the father, leads Susan to believe it is Frank's baby and she presupposes he is cheating on her and leading a double life. When Frank arrives home, he is unable to clear up the misunderstanding and Susan throws him out of the house. Susan then refuses to speak to him, and only allows him to see his daughter after school. In an attempt to prove his honesty to his wife by demonstrating that it is not his baby, Frank sees a doctor and receives the news that he was never able to reproduce to begin with, since he has Klinefelter's syndrome. A few days later, the stranger brings her baby to the Allens' house in hopes of thanking him for his kindness, only to find his wife at home. After the stranger introduces herself and her baby to Susan, she clears up the misunderstanding, but the damage is done since Frank now knows that their child is not really his. The tides change dramatically as Frank realizes that he was the one in the relationship who was faithful, and goes through a withdrawal as he tries to comprehend how his daughter could not be his and how wrong his life turned out when he believed that he has always stayed straight and narrow. After giving a life-changing speech about living on whim at his own time management lecture, he decides to live his life based on chance from that moment on. He starts his reformed outlook on life with the simple idea of possibility and randomness by making his decision based shuffling three index cards with written options and choosing one at chance. Through his journey, he learns more about love, friendship, faith, hope and life than he ever imagined.

• Wahida K

  
  He planned his life like clockwork. Now things are going cuckoo.

• jay n

  
  Reynolds is a decent enough actor but this is just an inert bore.

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"This man will bring order to the universe...or not."</i> The story of an obsessively organized efficiency expert whose life unravels in unexpected ways when fate forces him to explore the serendipitous nature of love and forgiveness.… More
  <i>"This man will bring order to the universe...or not."</i> The story of an obsessively organized efficiency expert whose life unravels in unexpected ways when fate forces him to explore the serendipitous nature of love and forgiveness. <b><u>REVIEW</u></b> I can't believe this one flew under my radar for almost two years. Chaos Theory is one of those rare gems in between, you never hear it being talked about but has also built quite a fanbase. Chaos Theory is a quirky, surprising little gem with a great script and an impressive vision. Directed by Marcos Siega (Pretty Persuasion), the movie works on both ends. It has enough comedy to give a chuckle or two and exact amount of drama for the love sick. Ryan Reynolds, whether you love him or hate him, is always the impressive actor and this is by far one of his best on screen performance. Emily Mortimer is always terrific and the elusive Stuart Townsend graces us with his charisma and almost-never-seen talent. This is a rarity of a gem with a great cast and a perfect blend of heartwarming drama and spot-on comedic timing. However, its never gonna get the wide audience that it deserves mainly because the stars aren't exactly top draws in the box office which is just sad really because the wider audience would rather just watch a dude dressed as a lady in a fatsuit (I'm looking at you Tyler Perry) than real good quality filmmaking.

• paul s

  
  In attempting to show that you can't quantify love, this film ends up just a bit too pat in its delivery. There are too many circumstances and emotional responses that are too convenient and or false to take the film seriously. A cumpulsive organizer who writes little notes… More
  In attempting to show that you can't quantify love, this film ends up just a bit too pat in its delivery. There are too many circumstances and emotional responses that are too convenient and or false to take the film seriously. A cumpulsive organizer who writes little notes to himself (which I suppose was intended to be funny?) watches as his life spirals out of control - what worse for a control freak, eh? Of course he then turns to a new obsession - that of random chance, which ends up with doors opening and closing to him -the end result, he may be a bit wiser and untimately things turn out ok - but as some sage once said, the act of doing nothing is in itself an act. I enjoyed the invention at the beginning of the film that lays the groundwork for the story to follow; and of course it was obvious that both cards said talk - once again the control freak returning to his base instincts. This could have been a more interesting treatise on the randomness of things; and the parellel to the inexplicability of love works well, I just wish that the charactors weren't such transparant vehicles for the script's message.

• Chris G

  
  Chaos Theory is one of those films that is without a country. Is it a chick flick? is it a comedy? is it a drama? This film tries to do all three in a way that doesn't really gel. Ryan Reynolds plays Frank, an obsessive list maker whose life revolves around order. When his list… More
  Chaos Theory is one of those films that is without a country. Is it a chick flick? is it a comedy? is it a drama? This film tries to do all three in a way that doesn't really gel. Ryan Reynolds plays Frank, an obsessive list maker whose life revolves around order. When his list for the day is altered by 10 minutes it sends his life careening out of control to the point that he becomes the liberated free spirit that only appears on the silver screen. Reynolds is his usual great self in this one. The problem is that the script is laughable at times and the other actors tend to be a bit wooden. The one dimensional stereotypical character in the beginning is still the same even after learning a life changing secret AND admitting to changing his ways. The idea for Chaos Theory is a four star idea released in a three star film (Ryan Reynolds being the only reason this film is a hair above average.

• Jani H

  
  It's hard to tell that was this a drama or a comedy. In my point of view it blends the both genres in a mediocre way. Ryan Reynolds continues on his more serious line of movies. He does a good job and so does the rest of the cast but the film lacks too much to be anything else… More
  It's hard to tell that was this a drama or a comedy. In my point of view it blends the both genres in a mediocre way. Ryan Reynolds continues on his more serious line of movies. He does a good job and so does the rest of the cast but the film lacks too much to be anything else than just average. Streaking in a hockey game... Fantastic!

• Brian D

  
  Nice surprise.Not normally my type of film but it ryan reynold cool performance thats makes it. Check it out.

• Sol C

  
  This film was a big surprise to me. I wasn't expecting much from this film, but by the end, I was very entertained. i was really impressed with Ryan Reynolds in this film. Usually, we get to see him in comedies or action films, but he is really good in this drama. He should do… More
  This film was a big surprise to me. I wasn't expecting much from this film, but by the end, I was very entertained. i was really impressed with Ryan Reynolds in this film. Usually, we get to see him in comedies or action films, but he is really good in this drama. He should do more drams. In my opinion, Chaos Theory is one of his best performances so far. Emily Mortimer and Stuart Townsend provide good solid supporting work in the film. Definitely worth checking out.

• Deb S

  
  Chaos Theory is a film about miscalculations and misunderstandings. Ryan Reynolds plays an efficiency expert, Frank Allen whose perfect little life is left spiraling out of control when his wife sets the clock ten minutes later than it really should be. <a… More
  Chaos Theory is a film about miscalculations and misunderstandings. Ryan Reynolds plays an efficiency expert, Frank Allen whose perfect little life is left spiraling out of control when his wife sets the clock ten minutes later than it really should be. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=72rrqx" target="_blank"><img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/72rrqx.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> This preempts a chain of events that leads to Frank getting into a car accident with a pregnant woman turning his world upside down into utter chaos causing Frank to question his safe, planned out life as he learns some new information that, in effect, reveals to him that much of what he believed about his life is based on false information and so he decides to live his life based on chance from that moment on. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=33y3vnt" target="_blank"><img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/33y3vnt.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

• Joseph E

  
  Frank Allen: Do you know what doctors call riders that don't wear a helmet? Buddy Endrow: A hotel? Frank Allen: Organ donors. I Suprisingly enjoyed Siega take on Serious humor. I thought this film was flawed in some sense, but I thought it was uncanny to say the least. I… More
  Frank Allen: Do you know what doctors call riders that don't wear a helmet? Buddy Endrow: A hotel? Frank Allen: Organ donors. I Suprisingly enjoyed Siega take on Serious humor. I thought this film was flawed in some sense, but I thought it was uncanny to say the least. I really enjoyed this picture, more than I expected. This film is almost like Dramedy, or just plain Drama. Reynolds takes a whacky script and makes it into a funny movie, that both enlightins the funnybone and the heart! For many people who like comedies, I Highly Reccomend this film. You will never think of comedies the same way again. I truely won't! Frank Allen: Ever heard of chaos theory, Ed? It's a science, tries to determine underlying patterns in chaotic systems like weather, ocean currents, blood flow sort of things. But it turns out that are few things more chaotic than the beat of a human heart. Its beating up, slowing down. Pretty face, flirty stares. It's always changing on what's happening to ourselves out there. It's an erratic son of a bitch. But underneath all of that bump-da-bump mess, there is in fact a pattern, the truth, and it's love. Most important thing about love is that we choose to give it, and we choose to receive it. Making it the least random act in the entire universe. It transcends blood, it transcends betrayal and all the dirt and makes us human.

• Angela A

  
  This was a sort of romantic comedy.. and with that in mind it was actually a pretty good movie and general light entertainment.

• Jay R

  
  amazing... loved this movie... brilliantly profound and a wonderful message... plus, who doesn't love Ryan Reynolds kicking the crap out of someone... I loved it

• FanGirl B

  
  An alright dramadey. Not especially good but not bad by any means.

• Lizzy B

  
  If you can muscle your way through the crappy, aimed for teenager penis references, it's actually a very decent, heart-felt movie. I really like Ryan Reynolds as of his past two movies... he's not bad... and not bad looking either... as... um as a father, you know... guy… More
  If you can muscle your way through the crappy, aimed for teenager penis references, it's actually a very decent, heart-felt movie. I really like Ryan Reynolds as of his past two movies... he's not bad... and not bad looking either... as... um as a father, you know... guy playing loving father... who wouldn't tap that? Right?

• Leo L

  
  A great movie! Interesting story plot. Fantastic cast. Ryan Reynolds is great, and I like his character (Mr. Anti-Procrastination) and everything changes in a short amount of time. Life as he knows it becomes completely twisted. The only thing that doesn't change is the love for… More
  A great movie! Interesting story plot. Fantastic cast. Ryan Reynolds is great, and I like his character (Mr. Anti-Procrastination) and everything changes in a short amount of time. Life as he knows it becomes completely twisted. The only thing that doesn't change is the love for his family, his wife and his daughter. Sarah Chalke, Stuart Townsend and Emily Mortimer also stars in this movie. Great music!!

Read all 17 featured audience ratings