When During The Fly (1986) Does it Stop Being Appropriate to be Attracted to Jeff Goldblum?

This article contains spoilers for The Fly (1986), I highly recommend this movie and if you plan on watching it please do before reading!

The Fly is an 80s body horror movie following a scientist named Seth Brundle (played by Jeff Goldblum) who has recently invented teleportation. Unbeknownst to him, a fly enters the teleportation pod with him during his first attempt to teleport himself. This causes his genetics to merge with the fly’s, leading to him slowly transforming into a man-insect mutation as the fly’s cells begin to take over his body. This movie has sparked many questions among the audience. Who is the person supplying him with all the baboons he experiments on? Why does Tawny, a woman he meets at a bar, have no sense of self preservation? And most of all, at what point during this movie does it stop being appropriate to be attracted to Jeff Goldblum? It is a common sentiment that Jeff Goldblum is particularly attractive during his role of Seth Brundle, @lifewithnopants on Letterboxd quoting that this movie is “the most romantic movie ever made omg” as well as @soupgeorg asking, “what stage of Fly-Jeff-Goldblum would you pass at? cause i think mine might be way too late”. I am writing this article to give a definitive answer of when the Brundlefly hear-me-outs have gone too far. 

At the beginning of the movie it’s obviously fair game. Seth is a normal human- sure he is a little strange and antisocial but he is a generally nice guy with a few weird hobbies (like teleporting baboons). If you are attracted to Jeff Goldblum from 00:00 to 35:43, I will hear you out. 

The dat after Seth teleports, his genes have slowly started merging with the fly’s. While there is not much physical change, his skin begins to develop dark spots, there are small insect hairs growing out of a scratch in his back, and he has gained superstrength. If you are attracted to Jeff Goldblum from 35:43 to 51:47, I will hear you out.

Later that day we begin to really see the fly’s genes altering Seth’s physical appearance, as well as his mental state. The dark spots on his face have grown into blisters, some even having small, thick hairs growing out of them. We also see some of his finger nails completely fall off, oozing a white puss. This is when Seth realizes his genes have been mixed with the fly’s. We also see a change in personality at this point, he has gone from being a kind person to punching holes in his walls and screaming at his girlfriend, Veronica. Despite this, he is still overall very humanoid. If you are attracted to Jeff Goldblum from 51:47 to 1:02:55, I will hear you out.

This stage is when the fly’s genes have really started to become visible. His hair has begun falling out, he has lost some mobility in his legs, and his skin has been fully covered in bumps and blisters. We also learn that he is no longer able to digest food by chewing and swallowing, but instead he must use his own vomit to liquify it and drink that. This is pretty disgusting to watch however it definitely gets worse. Unfortunately, if you attracted to Jeff Goldblum from 1:02:55 to 1:14:03, I will continue to hear you out.

This stage of Brudlefly is where I draw the line. At this point he has lost nearly all of his teeth and many

 small bodyparts like fingers and ears have fallen off. His full body is now swollen and red and he has developed a twitch, aswell as constant heavy breathing. He has fallen fully into insanity, to the point where it is hard to understand what he is saying. Sorry, but if you are attracted to Jeff Goldblum from 1:14:03 onward, I can no longer hear you out.

Even though I have established when it stops being appropriate to crush on Seth Brundle, I do think it is

 important for me to include all of his stages of mutation in this article. This includes when his jaw gets ripped off which is soon followed by a gruesome transformation where chunks of his skin fall revealing a slimy, giant insect creature. He has large buggy eyes, mandibles, long disproportionate arms, and so on. He no longer looks or acts like the original Seth in any way. 

 He has one transformation left, which he causes by once again teleporting himself. During this he is only  halfway inside of the teleportation pod, making him fuse with the the telepod itself. He now has sharp metal scraps sticking out from his back that somewhat represent a fly’s wings. His legs seem to have morphed into one, giving him a tail that looks like its made out of wires and other parts of a machine. My conclusion is that if anyone has watched this movie and claims that they still find Jeff Goldblum attractive after the timestamp 1:14:03, they are lying.