MovieChat Forums > The Butterfly Effect (2004) Discussion > A couple of things I can't understand

A couple of things I can't understand

posted 4 years ago by holly61 (989)
15 replies | jump to latest

He hadn't bothered with Kayleigh in several years and she wasn't a romantic interest in the original timeline. It was only in the alternate timelines did they have a bond. He basically did not know her and only took interest after her suicide in the real timeline. It was just strange as he seemed to risk ''so much'' for a woman he hadn't even bothered to contact in many years. The entire films events revolved around her.

Another thing is the original Kayleigh seemed to be doing okay for herself. She was supporting herself financially and who knows if she would have gone back to school and worked towards a decent life for herself? as soon as he randomly showed up he seemed to push her over the edge giving her no chance to change for the better. She became a drug addicted hooker in one of the alternate timelines, a snobby sorority girl in another - none of which were anything like her original personalty. He should have just left her alone. So I do agree with the ending (never getting to know her). He clearly was the one f*cking up her life in seemingly every timeline.

[–] howgamer (3988) 4 years ago

Solid points. I haven't seen this in a long time, but wasn't she like his childhood sweetheart or something like that? He wanted to be with her, but they never got together?

[–] holly61 (989) 4 years ago

He could have just contacted her previously and dated her. But he never did. When he came to her before she suicided he only seemed interested in what happened to him as a child in that basement rather than interested in her. You get what I mean.

It was just kind of sad because she wasn't that dysfunctional in the original timeline. She wasn't on drugs and she was able to function well enough to work and get by on her own despite the childhood trauma. He was like a curse in human form for her. As I said before, the passing on the street version of the ending was the best because he cared enough not to get involved as he seemed to come to the same conclusion. He decides to just let her go.

[–] wearsalan (5554) 4 years ago

Hence the Butterfly Effect.
He decided to change things after her suicide and no matter what he did he made it worse.

[–] brodee (467) 4 years ago

Haven't seen the movie in forever either, but the main character really wasn't relatable, it's like he has some demented joy in seeing the absolute worst things happen to Kayleigh. He was basically a cancer, why was he doing this and why couldn't he stop making her life miserable? I believe they stared in a child porno right, but no one seemed to remember this until the middle of the movie (IIRC), and he kills the girl's father doesn't he?

At any given time, all he needed to do to fix Keyleigh's life was to stop screwing with it. He was the problem, we don't need a whole movie just to figure that out.

[–] davodikum (6212) 4 years ago

What? Then just an episode or something?

[–] brodee (467) 4 years ago

The "movie" is basically just a collection of episodes of how badly he can screw up Keyleigh's life. There is no need to have an entire movie when the problem is transparent the first two times he did it.

[–] davodikum (6212) 4 years ago

So your problem is with fact the idea doesn't hold up over a feature length presentation. But i disagree. Definitely not my favourite movie, far from it. To tell you the truth the more times I watch it the less I like. But I'm still glad the movie exists.

[–] brodee (467) 4 years ago

No, my problem is that it is a movie about one guy screwing up another person's life over and over and over and never getting the point that she is better off without him until the last few moments of the film.

[–] cyguration (3951) 4 years ago

Ehhh... but as the audience we don't really know that and neither does Evan.

You can't know unless you try, and often times it takes a LOT of effort and opportunities to get some things right, so majority of the journey is hoping that the butterfly effect based on Evan's decision isn't too bad, but unfortunately it is.

After enough tries and enough failures he finally gets it and lets her go. But it's through the trial, error and tribulation that we come to understand that it's probably just better to let things be than to try to keep meddling in things we should just leave well enough alone.

So, I disagree that this could be summed up quickly or as a short. It needed the full feature length to explore all available outcomes and possibilities to hammer home the point.

[–] davodikum (6212) 4 years ago

Exactly. Plus in the end he figures it all out.

[–] Mattc164 (619) 4 years ago

Maybe just a brief paragraph would suffice. The author could’ve just jotted a few sentences down on a napkin or something.

[–] AzureSeb (510) 4 years ago

Haven't seen the movie in forever either, but the main character really wasn't relatable, it's like he has some demented joy in seeing the absolute worst things happen to Kayleigh.

Evan didn't take any joy in seeing bad things happen to Kayleigh. He attempted to change things to try and give her a better life.

[–] brodee (467) 4 years ago

Evan knew he was screwing her life up worse and worse... that's the whole problem. HE is the antagonist of the story, no matter how much he wants to pretend he is the protagonist.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to help by emotionally scaring you with worse things than the little thing you were already over" doesn't cut it. He was doing it for his own self-gratification, no matter what lies he tells the audience. You don't keep poking a dead dog unless you enjoy poking it.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

You are forgetting that he remembers every timeline. Of course he's interested in her!

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 3 years ago

The answer is in the OP's post: "He should have just left her alone"

That turned out to be the point of the whole film. It just took Evan, and presumably the viewer, the whole film to finally realize that fact.

In short, it would've been better to leave well enough alone.