“The Butterfly Effect” is one of the worst movies of the year. But, believe it or not, Ashton Kutcher isn’t the reason.

In fact, the Cedar Rapids native, best known as the resident celebrity in Eric Forman’s basement and Demi Moore’s bedroom, is actually the highlight of this two-hour waste of theater space. While it might not be an Oscar-worthy performance, Kutcher’s portrayal of the psychologically tortured Evan Treborn is a notable first attempt at serious film acting.

What’s tragic about “The Butterfly Effect” is that it had the potential to be a fantastic thinking person’s thriller. The concept of a man who discovers his ability to travel back to his own past to change the present, only to discover that messing with the small details causes a ripple effect he cannot control, is original and thought-provoking enough to make for a very memorable movie.

Sadly, the writing and directing team of Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber (“Final Destination 2”) decided to stick with what they know best — overplayed, clich‚ characters and plot devices.

Anyone who’s lived through a hellish youth like Evan’s deserves the ability to travel through time.

An institutionalized father. A child pornography film. A sophomoric prank turned deadly. A murdered dog. The list goes on and on, with each incident more absurd than the last.

Every conceivable — and usually inconceivable — happenstance seems to have played a part in this poor kid’s formative years. And, unfortunately, nearly every second of the carnage is graphically and tastelessly splashed across the big screen without an afterthought about the horrible impression it leaves in the viewer’s mind.

Instead of trying to explain the origins of Evan’s unique disorder or showing more chemistry between Kutcher and Amy Smart (who gives an on-again, off-again performance with the character-morphing part of Kayleigh Miller), the audience is left with a vague, disconnected impression of why he cares about this girl in the first place.

The film would come close to being tolerable, however, if the writers hadn’t taken the exact same liberties with character development as they did with its plot.

Almost all of the main character actors, especially Elden Henson as the introverted childhood friend Lenny and Smart as a scarred, drugged-up prostitute, do their best at breathing life into their roles.

Too bad they had very little to work with.

With the exception of Evan and Lenny, who actually seem to have a bit of heart, almost every character is a one-dimensional attempt at a real human being. There is no motivation, no purpose, no reasoning behind anything anyone does in most of the film.

Instead of showing the thought processes behind a character’s actions or decisions, the audience is forced to believe in whatever stereotype each character is individually pigeonholed into.

The pedophiliac father is a pedophiliac because he drinks, all the frat boys cheat on tests and haze pledges because they’re frat boys and the evil brother is evil because he saw his sister kiss Evan. Does this make sense? Of course — the filmmakers say it does.

Perhaps before Bress and Gruber start working on their next film, they should look into going back in time and correcting their own mistakes. With such a capable cast and a brilliant premise, it’s amazing “The Butterfly Effect” never finds its wings.