Review of Before I Fall (2017) by Orlando O — 29 Jun 2017

Before I Fall is like the teenage drama version of Groundhog Dog or the sci-fi Edge of Tomorrow. Playing around with the concept idea of the main character repeating the same day over and over until they try to solve the link to escape it. Before I Fall is decent for its teen drama that is about a bratty senior and her group of queen B friends being the bully to students who are not on the spotlight like they are. When an accident leaves one of them to repeat the same day before the accident. She has to figure out and fix all her wrongdoings. It is a fair film, it has its decent performances, and a okay story.

The plot follows Samantha (Zoey Deutch) waking on the cupid day, were students can send a rose to their secret admirer or boyfriend/girlfriend. Samantha gets picked up by her queen B friend Lindsey (Halston Sage). And than the other two Ally (Cynthy Wu) and Elody (Medalion Rahimi). They joke, talk about rumors, losing their virginity, and also make fun of students that are not up there with their classy style. They go to a party, where things go awry when Juliet (Elena Kampouris) insults Lindsey about her bullying which she gets attacked and thrown out of the party. Samantha and her friends head home until they get into a car accident. Samantha wakes up from the experience to only see that the day has restarted all over again. Several attempts of trying to save her friends. She has to solve the mystery of her déjà vu and fix all her wrongdoings to get through the day.

It is a concept that's been seen in other movies before. Sure, other movies were better adapted in different genres like Groundhog Day, Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow, etc. Before I Fall is not terrible. It has its cliché written script. A decent story that is about trying to be open minded to others perspectives. It tries to be that doing the right thing movie. Except the character development in the movie was quite thin. Samantha is not exactly a good high school girl. She follows her friends at all times. Even when they insult and make fun of another innocent girl for her appearance. Could this whole déjà vu day repeating be a learning lesson for Samantha? What about her friends, whose behavior is worse than hers. Which I feel like her friends is going to miss the point of how their actions affects others.

Zoey Deutch gave a decent performance with her character. Which I have not seen her in much besides the tedious Vampire Academy and eh Why Him. The script was cliché with decent dialogue. Plus predictable. Samantha and her big shot boyfriend did not seem promising. When she sees her longtime childhood buddy who seems to care for her and is afraid to make something of it cause of her friends. Yes, it is easy to see where the direction goes.

Overall, Before I Fall is a fair drama film. It has a concept idea that tries to be a learning curve for anti bullying. And some decent performances. It just filled with cliché written characters and a dull direction.