[Don't you ever fucking post this, this chapter is un-edited and haven't been proofread.]
West Hollywood.
It was six-thirty in the evening. After getting off work, Peter Butler had dinner with his girlfriend Peggy, then the two hurried to this nearby theater.
Though they had developed a good personal rapport, Peter Butler still hadn't learned the official plot of The Butterfly Effect. So today, unusually, he left work on time, eager to see it for himself.
Peter's girlfriend Peggy was a tall, slender white girl who wore glasses and had a refined, scholarly appearance.
Once they settled into their seats in the theater, Peggy couldn't help but say, "Peter, I hear the critics aren't too kind to The Butterfly Effect. Do we really have to see this movie?"
Due to the poor feedback from the initial test screenings, Fox had been carefully concealing the film's reception, and there were no public previews before its opening.
Thus, until yesterday, word of mouth for The Butterfly Effect had only circulated among a small circle within Hollywood. But now, the first batch of reviews had appeared in the afternoon papers, and the media response to the film was naturally hard to cover up any longer.
As a journalist, Peter Butler had known about this earlier, but he still trusted his own judgment more.
Scanning the hall as the audience gradually filled up with the approaching showtime, Peter Butler replied, "Peggy, didn't you really like Run Lola Run? Simon's movies shouldn't disappoint everyone too much."
Peggy was the same age as Peter, thirty-one this year, and worked as a designer at an advertising agency.
Though she had quite appreciated Simon's previous Run Lola Run, she had always been a very rational girl, well past the age of chasing stars, and didn't idolize Simon Westeros like many young people did.
However, considering her boyfriend's relationship with the man, Peggy didn't want to be too harsh. She just shrugged and said, "Maybe."
They waited patiently for a few minutes, and the lights in the screening room dimmed.
Peter Butler glanced around again. The hundred-seat hall had an occupancy rate exceeding seventy percent, which was a very solid figure. Clearly, bolstered by the popularity of Run Lola Run, The Butterfly Effect's opening weekend box office wouldn't be too bad no matter what. The key was the film's subsequent performance.
During this time, with Run Lola Run's unexpected massive success, Simon Westeros had naturally risen to fame, and Peter Butler, thanks to his series of interviews with Simon, had garnered attention within the Los Angeles Times company.
As the largest newspaper in the American West, the Los Angeles Times had a massive team of over 1,100 editors and reporters. For a young journalist in his early thirties like Peter Butler to catch the eye of the higher-ups was no easy feat.
Accordingly, Peter Butler had unconsciously leaned toward Simon in his personal stance. Subconsciously, he had even decided that as long as the movie wasn't utterly unwatchable, he would definitely put in a good word for Simon.
On the big screen.
After the routine trailers and studio logos, Matt Dillon's character Evan cautiously navigated a dim corridor and burst into an office. Amid the violent pounding on the door by security and doctors, Evan, hiding under the desk, quickly scribbled a farewell message in his notebook, then started playing a videotape.
In the midst of intense camera shaking, the scene flashed back to Evan's childhood.
In the screening room, watching the warm-toned footage of the protagonist's childhood, Peter Butler was still recalling the opening prologue.
It was a brilliantly crafted suspense hook; with that alone, Brian De Palma had successfully piqued the audience's curiosity and attention. Over the next twenty minutes, Evan's bizarre childhood behaviors appeared one by one on the big screen, continually stoking the viewers' intrigue. This continued until Evan reached adulthood, when the mysteries began to unravel one after another.
East Coast.
New Haven, Connecticut.
It was already past ten at night. Set to officially graduate from Yale next month, Jennifer Rebould had been increasingly busy lately, only finding time at eight in the evening to watch Simon's new movie with her friend Lisa Collins.
Now, as they walked out of the theater with the crowd, the two girls exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss for how to evaluate The Butterfly Effect.
Was this a good movie?
Compared to Run Lola Run, which was stunning in terms of plot, cinematography, score, and more, The Butterfly Effect had little to comment on beyond the idea of repeatedly traveling back to the past.
Was this a bad movie?
The film's plot was very complete, with clever interweaving and interlocking elements. Compared to truly rotten films where you could barely remember the story afterward, many details in this movie were worth savoring.
Simply put.
As two seasoned moviegoers who frequently visited theaters, Jennifer and Lisa struggled to find anything in this film that truly moved them. And honestly, deep down, they weren't too fond of the despairing emotions the movie conveyed.
Perhaps.
This was just a script that guy had casually written; his next directorial work would surely be worth looking forward to.
Jennifer was thinking this when a voice, clearly raised on purpose, suddenly came from nearby: "This movie is so cool, even more thrilling than Run Lola Run. I think we should make time to see it again."
Following the voice, Jennifer turned her head and saw three teenage boys, seventeen or eighteen years old, trailing behind her and Lisa.
The three boys noticed Jennifer turning and their eyes lit up. Then the other two chimed in enthusiastically, quickening their pace to catch up alongside Jennifer and Lisa.
Normally, Jennifer would dismiss such clumsy pickup attempts with disdain. But this time, she took the initiative to look at the boy who had spoken and asked, "Do you really think The Butterfly Effect is cooler than Run Lola Run?"
"Of course, going back to the past using a diary—isn't that idea cool enough?" The boy gestured animatedly without hesitation. "Not to mention the butterfly effect; compared to the details in Run Lola Run, changing a life in an instant—that's the real butterfly effect. And in the end, going back to the womb and strangling himself—tsk, Simon Westeros is a genius."
Listening to the boy beside her excitedly waving his hands, Jennifer felt like something flashed through her mind, but she couldn't grasp it. Lisa, arm linked with hers, however, showed a clear look of understanding on her face.
As they talked, they unknowingly exited the theater.
Seeing Jennifer and the others about to leave, the three boys hurried after them. The one who had spoken invited, "Hey, girls, how about heading to a bar? We know a place nearby that doesn't check IDs."
Before Jennifer could respond, Lisa, with a teasing tone, said to the three boys, "Forget it, kids. We're not interested in dating minors."
With a laugh, she shook off the three boys and pulled Jennifer quickly to the parking lot.
Finding their car, the two women got in. Lisa, who was driving, started the engine and then suddenly reached over, gently tugging at Jennifer's pretty golden ponytail, still smiling. "That's what you get for always wearing this—you get mistaken for a little girl."
Jennifer shook her hair and swatted at Lisa. "Just drive already; I'm getting sleepy."
Lisa steered the car out of the parking lot and, seeing Jennifer still lost in thought, said, "You're not thinking about Westeros, are you?"
Jennifer's face immediately flushed a bit, but she quickly retorted, "You're the one thinking about him—you're the one who admires him so much."
Lisa, unlike the shy Jennifer, was straightforward: "Such an amazing guy; I just don't know when I'll see him again. I'm not planning to go to California. Isn't your uncle his personal lawyer? Send me some autographed photos when you can. And if you can snatch Simon Westeros away from Janet Johnston, I'll fly to L.A. myself to throw you a victory party."
Hearing Lisa get more outrageous, Jennifer blushed deeply and reached over. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Lisa opened her mouth, her neat white teeth pretending to bite at the small hand trying to cover her mouth, scaring Jennifer away before laughing. "I'm just saying what you're thinking. Good luck, Jenny."
"I've decided not to talk to you for the next ten minutes."
Lisa chuckled, seeing that Jennifer really wasn't responding anymore, and drove on indifferently.
After a while, she glanced at her friend in the passenger seat again, noticing the fading blush on her face mingled with some worry, and suddenly said, "No need to worry so much. I think this movie might just be for those young punks."
With the film's opening day, reviews for The Butterfly Effect appeared en masse across various media platforms.
"Following Run Lola Run, Simon Westeros once again uses his exceptional imagination to craft a brilliant story exploring the countless possibilities of life. The Butterfly Effect made me realize that each of our lives is composed of countless droplets in the river of time—you can't change it, can't escape it, can't regret it. Real life is destined to have only one outcome."
This was the review article Peter Butler published in the next day's Los Angeles Times.
Though during the viewing, Peter Butler's impressions of the film were similar to those of Jennifer and her friend on the East Coast, he still wrote a piece expressing approval.
However, beyond Peter Butler, far too many North American critics were far less polite, overwhelmingly expressing their disdain for The Butterfly Effect.
"No one can save these tediously repetitive segments." —Variety
"Matt Dillon, who delivered wonderful performances in films like Tex and The Outsiders, choosing this movie was the biggest mistake of his life." —Entertainment Weekly
"Pessimistic themes, chaotic narrative, boring characters—this is truly the most uninteresting film in recent times." —Salon
"Simon Westeros may have wanted to express some deeper philosophical thoughts through The Butterfly Effect, but the result is just a completely meaningless, boring film." —New York Observer
"..."
"..."
Amid this barrage of negative reviews, Mark Hollington, the New York Times contributor who had initially sparked doubts about Simon, resurfaced, unsparingly declaring that "The Butterfly Effect is an utterly stupid and pretentious mess of a film; I simply can't understand what Simon Westeros is trying to express through such an irritating movie."
The massive success of Run Lola Run had, after all, involved too many flukes, so The Butterfly Effect's box office performance was crucial for Simon's future development in Hollywood.
Even on Saturday, facing the overwhelmingly negative reviews for The Butterfly Effect, Ronald Goldberg couldn't wait and called, hoping to organize a production meeting for Final Destination that he could attend personally.
This was clearly a breach of the agreement they had signed.
Obviously.
If The Butterfly Effect ultimately flopped at the box office, the three projects Simon was currently advancing would all suffer severe impacts.