History Film / TheButterflyEffect

* AssholeVictim: The inmates that picked on Evan when they get shanked.

* PlotHole: [[TimeyWimeyBall Time travel inconsistencies]] aside, there's no mention of Evan ever having a trial before being sent to prison after he [[spoiler:kills Tommy]] nor is there any mention about why he didn't [[spoiler:plead self-defense]] when the murder was clearly witnessed as such and could have avoided any kind of stay in jail.
** Concerning the second example: it's easy to extrapolate from his mother's visit that he did plead (and is still pleading through his lawyer) precisely that, but the court was unwilling to believe him because a) his force was excessive (was [[spoiler: beating Tommy ''to death'']] strictly necessary when he was already subdued with spray, on the ground?) and b) his girlfriend was the ''only'' witness; it's possible she argued against him. She didn't really like him doing that to [[spoiler:her brother]].

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Kayley's hair color changes depending on how happy she is in whatever timeline. It's brown and mousy in the timelines where she's miserable and it's blonde when she's happy. [[spoiler:Her hair is blonde at the end]].

* FromBadToWorse: and worse and worse and ''worse''.

!This film provides examples of:

* TomHanksSyndrome: This was one of Ashton Kutcher's first dramatic roles following his established comedic image from That70sShow.

* ExactWords: "Here, take this [[BuffySpeak rusty spiky thing]]. You've got to stop Tommy! Cut the rope!"

'''''The Butterfly Effect''''' is a 2004 American ScienceFiction PsychologicalThriller film starring AshtonKutcher, AmySmart, Eric Stoltz and others, directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and distributed by New Line Cinema.

'''''The Butterfly Effect''''' is a 2004 American ScienceFiction PsychologicalThriller film starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz, and others, directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and distributed by New Line Cinema.

It's about a guy who can travel back in time by reading his journals and change what happened then, and uses this ability to try to undo various traumatic events he and his friends suffered as children. Despite his best intentions, the results aren't always good for everyone. What's more, his own brain suffers from trying to 'assimilate' all the new memories from these consequences.

* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:Subverted. At one point near the end of the film it looks like the story is gonna go out with a TwistEnding. As Evan's doctor explains that there are no journals, he asserts that everything that we've apparantly seen so far is a delusion that Evan created to cope with the guilt of killing Kayleigh, describing alternate universes with colleges, prisons, and paraplegia. Then it turns out that the mental time travel ''was'' real when Evan goes back one last time]].
* AnAesop: Similar to that of ''[[Film/TheTimeMachine2002 The Time Machine]]'' remake; to attempt to undo the mistakes of the past is futile. Sometimes, you just have to accept things the way they are.
** Which is broken by his final decision by [[spoiler:making sure Kayleigh stays out of his life which makes things all the better for everyone in the end.]] So yeah,it's more like the aesop get's twisted into "You'll only be ok if you never find true love."
* AssholeVictim: The inmates that picked on Evan, when they get shanked.
* BeardOfSorrow: It's subtle, but there. In the futures that Evan loses Kayleigh in he's always grown out a full beard. When he's still with her in the "frat-boy" future he's shaved it down to a goatee, but it isn't until [[spoiler:the very end of the movie, when he's put her being a part of his life behind him]] that he's clean-shaven.

* BreakHerHeartToSaveHer: In the theatrical cut [[spoiler:Evan finally decides that the best course of action is to go back to where he and Kayleigh first meet and be mean to her, so she never befriends him, moves away with her mother and avoids the sexual abuse by her father which ultimately leads to her suicide.]]

* BlondGuysAreEvil: Tommy. Even in a reality where he turns out alright, his hair is brown. Lenny also depending on the reality.

* BurnBabyBurn: Turns out this is what originally happened with the dynamite. Also [[spoiler: the ending. (Although that was hinted at throughout)]].

* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: The director's cut ending invokes this trope: [[spoiler:Evan strangles himself with the umbilical cord in his mother's womb to make life better for the people he knew.]]
* DidNotGetTheGirl: This is the least sad part about the ending.
* DownerEnding: The director's cut. [[spoiler:Evan realizes that he's the reason why everyone else's lifes are so miserable, so he travels back to when he was still in his mother's womb and suffocates himself.]]

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Kayley's hair colour changes depending on how happy she is in whatever timeline. It's brown and mousy in the timelines where she's miserable and it's blonde when she's happy. [[spoiler: Her hair is blonde at the end]].

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Tommy in one reality. [[spoiler: Evan manages to convince him not to kill his dog and invoke his BigBrotherInstinct... only for Lenny to stab him from behind]].

* HeroicBSOD: One character has this after the [[spoiler:dynamite incident]].

* HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler:Evan]] in the director's cut

* HollywoodLaw: Evan wouldn't go to a regular prison, but county lockup, since he hadn't even been tried. The filmmakers knew this-[[RuleOfCool it was cooler filming in a prison though]].
* InSpiteOfANail: Evan goes back in time just to [[{{Squick}} stab his own hands]] on the teacher's spiky desk top note-pad in second grade so he can re-live his whole life, land up in the same jail about to be raped by the same prison gang, and prove to his cellmate that he has magical powers in the form of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic stigmata]].

* ImpaledPalm: Evan does this to ''himself'', to get stigmata-like scars on his hands as a little kid, as a part of a complex plan to get his religious present-day cellmate to believe him. (TimeTravel is involved.)

* ItsAWonderfulPlot: The plot of this film is one of the most famous (and ''cruelest'') subversions/deconstructions of this trope. The protagonist's life has been really depressing, and all his friends are worse off than before he met them. He uses his MentalTimeTravel abilities to correct his past mistakes, but they each end up making things worse for them and/or himself. [[spoiler:Accepting that they really are better off without him, he eventually decides that the only way to make them all happy is to remove his presence from their lifes entirely. The director's cut was even worse; in that version he travels back ''so he dies in his mother's womb'', just so his loved ones can live their lifes without his damaging influence.]]

* KavorkaMan: Evan's roommate Thumper, who's seen making out with an array of hot girls despite being an obese guy in goth clothing.

** His name was originally going to be "Chris Treborn", but the writers feared the wrath of religious groups.

* PlotHole: [[TimeyWimeyBall Time travel inconsistencies]] aside, there's no mention of Evan ever having a trial before being sent to prison after he [[spoiler: kills Tommy]] nor is their any mention about why he didn't [[spoiler: plead self-defense]] when the murder was clearly witnessed as such and could have avoided any kind of stay in jail.
** Concerning the second example: it's easy to extrapolate from his mother's visit that he did plead - and is still pleading through his lawyer - precisely that, but the court was unwilling to believe him because a) his force was excessive (was [[spoiler: beating Tommy ''to death'']] strictly necessary when he was already subdued with spray, on the ground?) and b) his girlfriend was the ''only'' witness; it's possible she argued against him. She didn't really like him doing that to [[spoiler: her brother]].

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Memories from the "new" timeline hit Evan in a rush, giving him a nosebleed... caused by [[MySkullRunnethOver brain hemorrhaging]].

* StarCrossedLovers: at least in the director's cut, [[spoiler: Evan]] and [[spoiler: Kayleigh]] just aren't meant to be together.

*
* TimeIsDangerous: The directors cut reveals that Evan suffers minor brain damage every time he majorly changes the past, resulting in severe migraines and nosebleeds as he gets the extra memories (often 20 years worth) burnt onto his existing ones. On the other hand, he's GenreSavvy enough to realise that repeated time travel might ultimately kill him, causing him to intentionally think through what he wants to change before each trip.

* TookALevelInBadass‎: Even, after dealing with the thugs in prison.

* WhenSheSmiles: Evan has this reaction to Kayley in the first alternate reality. He's seen her sad and messed up so many times that when he sees her smile he's convinced he wants to marry her.

** Which is broken by his final decision by [[spoiler:making sure Kayleigh stays out of his life which makes things all the better for everyone in the end.]] So yeah,it's more like the aesop get's twisted into "You'll only be ok if you never find true love."

* TimeyWimeyBall: The events of roughly half of Evan's blackouts are caused by his older self [[MentalTimeTravel going back to them]], while the other half were normal initially, but could be changed by his older self. One blackout even has examples of both. Also, it is established early on that Evan is the only who has any memory of the old timelines, but at one point another character notices a change in the timeline for no apparent reason.

* TimeyWimeyBall

* HollywoodLaw

* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: The director's cut ending invokes this trope: Evan strangles himself with the umbilical cord in his mother's womb to make life better for the people he knew.

* InSpiteOfANail: Evan goes back in time just to [[{{Squick}} stab his own hands]] on the teacher's spiky desk top note-pad in seventh grade so he can re-live his whole life, land up in the same jail about to be raped by the same prison gang, and prove to his cellmate that he has magical powers in the form of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic stigmata]].

!!This film provides examples of:

* DownerEnding: The director's cut. [[spoiler:Evan realizes that he's the reason why everyone else's lifes are so miserable, so he travels back to when he was still in his mother's womb and suffocates himself.]]

* In the theatrical cut [[spoiler:Evan finally decides that the best course of action is to go back to where he and Kayleigh first meet and be mean to her, so she never befriends him, moves away with her mother and avoids the sexual abuse by her father which ultimately leads to her suicide.]]

* AnAesop: Similar to that of ''TheTimeMachine'' remake; to attempt to undo the mistakes of the past is futile. Sometimes, you just have to accept things the way they are.

* InstitutionalApparel: Orange prison jumpsuits.

* BittersweetEnding: But only in the theatrical cut.

* DownerEnding: The director's cut.
** Let's not forget the FridgeBrilliance when you realize [[spoiler: his mother made a reference earlier that she had 2 miscarriages before him...]] So [[FridgeHorror they ALL came to the same conclusion, eventually.]]
*** Or the other FridgeBrilliance when you remember [[spoiler: the crazy fortune teller in the first timeline screaming that he has no soul and wasn't supposed to have been born.]]

''The Butterfly Effect'' is a 2004 American ScienceFiction PsychologicalThriller film starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz, and others, directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and distributed by New Line Cinema.

* IncestIsRelative
** BrotherSisterIncest: heavily implied.
*** Tommy made a rather un-brotherly remark towards his sister in one timeline.
** ParentalIncest