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******MAJOR SPOILER WARNING******
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In the theatrical release the ending was such that Evan goes back to the moment he met Kayleigh at the birthday party and is horrible to her so she doesn’t become his friend and decides to go live with her mom instead of her abusive father.

In the director’s cut there’s an extra scene in which Evan goes to a psychic / palmreader as an adult with his mother. The psychic examines his palm and says he has no life line and was never meant to be born. He laughs it off but his mother is upset and tells him that she was pregnant twice before he was born, but that both were still-births.

The rest of the film is the same except for the end where he doesn’t go back in time to the birthday party but goes back to the moment of his birth and strangles himself in his mother’s womb, thereby making sure he is never born.

Somehow I prefered the first ending… but perhaps those who didn’t like that one will prefer this?

Also, on a second viewing I noticed that the young Evan is a bad actor or badly directed. The editing is great. (Sound) effects are great and I found the storyline where Evan’s mum gets lung cancer because she started smoking after his accident really far-fetched all of a sudden. like the scriptwriters were desperate to find a reason to make him want to go back in time again.

Donnie Darko had more atmosphere to it (and a much better soundtrack) but was vaguer too. Butterfly Effect may have explained too much for some people’s liking, but I like it when complex ‘alternate universe’ plots are worked out fully. It’s too easy to always leave things open-ended and unanswered as in Donnie Darko or Mulholland Drive.

Good movie, good shock moments, solid play of Kutcher.
I agree on the ‘explanatory ending’ Arjan. I would’ve preferred a more open ending.