Chaos Theory (film)
Encyclopedia
Chaos Theory is a 2007 comedy-drama film starring Ryan Reynolds
, Stuart Townsend
, Emily Mortimer
, and Sarah Chalke
. The film was written by Daniel Taplitz and Kathy Gori
and was shot in Vancouver, Canada
.
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 for a paternity test, but also 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 on 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.
reported that 29% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 58 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 44 out of 100, based on 18 reviews as of August 2009.
Despite negative reviews by critics the general movie going public seemed to like the movie. It currently holds a 3.5 out of 5 Star rating on Netflix.
Box Office stats from Boxofficemojo.com
Opening Weekend
$23,880 (USA) (13 April 2008) (11 Screens)
Gross
$237,958 (USA) (20 April 2008)
$23,880 (USA) (13 April 2008)
Weekend Gross
$4,217 (USA) (20 April 2008) (7 Screens)
$23,880 (USA) (13 April 2008) (11 Screens)
Filming Dates
28 January 2006 - ??
Copyright Holder
(2007) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian film and television actor, best known for his roles in such films as National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Waiting..., The Amityville Horror, Just Friends, Definitely, Maybe, The Proposal, Buried, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Green Lantern.One of his best known...
, Stuart Townsend
Stuart Townsend
Stuart Townsend is an Irish actor and director. His most notable portrayals are of the characters Lestat de Lioncourt in the 2002 film adaptation of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned, and Dorian Gray in the 2003 film adaptation of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.-Early life and...
, Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
, and Sarah Chalke
Sarah Chalke
Sarah Chalke is a Canadian-American actress known for portraying Dr. Elliot Reid on the NBC/ABC comedy Scrubs, "Second Becky" Conner Healy on Roseanne, and Stella Zinman in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother...
. The film was written by Daniel Taplitz and Kathy Gori
Kathy Gori
Kathy Gori is an American voice actress, radio personality and screenwriter.-Biography:She was born in San Francisco, California....
and was shot in Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
Plot
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 for a paternity test, but also receives the news that he was never able to reproduce to begin with, since he has Klinefelter's syndrome
Klinefelter's syndrome
Klinefelter syndrome, 46/47, XXY, or XXY syndrome is a condition in which human males have an extra X chromosome. While females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY, affected individuals have at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y chromosome...
.
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 on 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.
Cast
- Ryan ReynoldsRyan ReynoldsRyan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian film and television actor, best known for his roles in such films as National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Waiting..., The Amityville Horror, Just Friends, Definitely, Maybe, The Proposal, Buried, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Green Lantern.One of his best known...
as Frank Allen - Emily MortimerEmily MortimerEmily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
as Susan Allen - Stuart TownsendStuart TownsendStuart Townsend is an Irish actor and director. His most notable portrayals are of the characters Lestat de Lioncourt in the 2002 film adaptation of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned, and Dorian Gray in the 2003 film adaptation of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.-Early life and...
as Buddy Endrow - Sarah ChalkeSarah ChalkeSarah Chalke is a Canadian-American actress known for portraying Dr. Elliot Reid on the NBC/ABC comedy Scrubs, "Second Becky" Conner Healy on Roseanne, and Stella Zinman in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother...
as Paula Crowe - Mike ErwinMike ErwinMike Erwin is an American actor who is best known as Colin Hart in the now cancelled WB television series Everwood. He has been more widely heard as the voice of Jak in the Jak and Daxter series from Jak II onward except in the case of Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier in which he did not reprise...
as Ed - Constance ZimmerConstance ZimmerConstance Zimmer is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as Dana Gordon in HBO's Entourage and as Claire Simms on the critically acclaimed ABC legal comedy-drama Boston Legal...
as Peg the Teacher - Matreya Fedor as Jesse Allen (7 years)
- Elisabeth HarnoisElisabeth HarnoisElisabeth Rose Harnois is an American television and film actress.-Early life:Harnois was born in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA, and raised in Los Angeles. She attended St...
as Jesse Allen - Chris William MartinChris William MartinChris William Martin , also known as Corky Martin, is a Gemini Award-nominated Canadian actor...
as Damon - Jovanna HuguetJovanna HuguetJovanna Huguet is a Canadian actress.Growing up in Vancouver, BC she trained as a ballet dancer. Training at the prestigious Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and the Walnut Hill School, in Natick, MA...
as Maid of Honor - Christopher JacotChristopher JacotChristopher Jacot is a Canadian actor.Jacot was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Earl Haig Secondary School in the Claude Watson programme for drama with fellow actors Sarah Polley and Lani Billard...
as Simon / Best Man - Alessandro JulianiAlessandro JulianiAlessandro Juliani is a Canadian actor, singer, and voice actor. He is notable for playing Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica, and Emil Hamilton in Smallville...
as Ken - Jocelyne LoewenJocelyne LoewenJocelyne Loewen is a Canadian voice actress working with Ocean Productions, known for her roles in the English dubs of anime series, mostly that of "spunky" young girls....
as Pregnant Nancy - Christine ChatelainChristine ChatelainChristine Chatelain is a Vancouver, British Columbia-born Canadian film and television actress. She had a recurring role on The Collector as Taylor. Originally an art student in Vancouver, she tried acting as a hobby and quickly gained roles in 40 Days and 40 Nights and 3000 Miles to Graceland as a...
as Tracy
Reception
Chaos Theory received generally negative reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. As of July 27, 2011, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 29% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 58 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 44 out of 100, based on 18 reviews as of August 2009.
Despite negative reviews by critics the general movie going public seemed to like the movie. It currently holds a 3.5 out of 5 Star rating on Netflix.
Box Office stats from Boxofficemojo.com
Opening Weekend
$23,880 (USA) (13 April 2008) (11 Screens)
Gross
$237,958 (USA) (20 April 2008)
$23,880 (USA) (13 April 2008)
Weekend Gross
$4,217 (USA) (20 April 2008) (7 Screens)
$23,880 (USA) (13 April 2008) (11 Screens)
Filming Dates
28 January 2006 - ??
Copyright Holder
(2007) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.