Chaos Theory | |
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Promotional poster
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Directed by | Marcos Siega |
Produced by |
Barbara Kelly Frederic Golchan Erica Westheimer |
Written by | Daniel Taplitz Kathy Gori |
Starring |
Ryan Reynolds Stuart Townsend Emily Mortimer Sarah Chalke Mike Erwin |
Music by | Gilad Benamram |
Cinematography | Ramsey Nickell |
Edited by | Nicholas Erasmus |
Production
company |
Castle Rock Entertainment
Lone Star Film Group |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Chaos Theory is a 2008 comedy-drama film starring Ryan Reynolds, Emily Mortimer, and Stuart Townsend. The film was directed by Marcos Siega, written by Daniel Taplitz and Kathy Gori, and was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) is a professional speaker who lectures on time management. He lives by example: 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 needing help 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. 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 even refuses to speak to him, and only allows him to see their daughter after school. In an attempt to prove his fidelity to his wife by demonstrating that it is not his baby, Frank sees a doctor for a paternity test, but receives the diagnosis 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 Frank 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 daughter 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.