This film takes its name from the concept that seemingly random, chaotic events contain hidden patterns of orderliness. Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) is an efficiency expert who gives lectures on creating structure and orderliness in our lives through making lists of actions to be performed, and not allowing whim or spontaneity to sidetrack us.Then, one morning as he's leaving home for his latest speaking engagement, Frank discovers that his wife Susan (Emily Mortimer) has accidentally set the kitchen clock backward ten minutes (she intended to set it forward to give him a time cushion). As a result Frank misses the 8 o'clock ferry into the city and is late for his speaking engagement. Even worse, his lateness sets in motion a chain of events that Frank is helpless to control, and which results in Susan mistakenly believing he's having an affair with another woman with whom he's fathered a child. However, this is just the beginning, and things get much, much worse... or better, depending upon your point of view.
Finally, Frank is forced to reevaluate the principles upon which he's built his entire life, his marriage to Susan, his long-term friendship with Buddy (Stuart Townsend), as well as his profession and his reliance on orderliness through list-making. As we watch, we cannot help but wonder what we would do if we were in Frank's place, and then we realize that our own life might be only a step or a moment away from tumbling into chaos.
The casting for this film is excellent with great chemistry among all three leads - Reynolds, Mortimer and Townsend. The screenplay is cleverly written, with drama and comedy well balanced, and only occasional forays into over-the-top humor. If you enjoyed Definitely, Maybe also starring Ryan Reynolds, or Bed of Roses or I'm With Lucy, I predict you'll enjoy Chaos Theory.
Labels: comedy, drama, romance
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 44/100
Tomatometer (critics=30, viewers=60)
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