Before I Fall: Movie Review
Based on the 2010 novel of the same name, “Before I Fall” is basically a teenage version of “Groundhog Day” minus the comedy. That doesn’t mean this young-adult adaptation is bad, but it’s not very good either. Zoey Deutch is one of those actresses that’s impossible not to like, even when the film she is starring in doesn’t impress.
February 12th is just another day for Samantha Kingston (Deutch). She has her three best friends, Lindsay (Halston Sage), Lola (Alyssa Lynch) and Ally (Cynthy Wu). She also has the attention of the most popular boy in school. When she attends a party at the house of her childhood friend, Kent (Logan Miller), Samantha and her bratty friends decide to humiliate the troubled Juliet (Elena Kampouris) for kicks. These are definitely not nice girls and Samantha goes along with it even though it is clear she may not agree.
After the party Samantha and her friends get into a car accident but when Samantha awakes, she is not in a hospital, but in her own bed, reliving the same morning all over again. That’s right, everything that happened before is happening again, because it is still February 12th for Sam.
We pretty much know how the film will play out. Samantha will keep reliving the same day, trying to fix the things that went terribly wrong and she will keep failing until she realizes that she keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Surprisingly, “Before I Fall” doesn’t completely go in the direction I expected but with the ending that was delivered I kind of wish it did.
Like I said before, Deutch has a great screen presence and much of “Before I Fall” looks beautiful thanks to the bay area local. It kind of looks like a “Twilight” film at times but also feels like one too, which is not a good thing. Fans of the novel might dig this one but I honestly can’t recommend it.
By: Marc Ferman