Before I Fall - directed by Ry Russo-Young
There is no hiding from comparisons with "Groundhog Day" when you begin a story in which the central premise is a character playing the same day over and over again.
"Before I Fall" in many way not only acknowledges the inevitable comparisons but seems to actively embrace it.
Not that there is much else in common beyond the concept and a few shared tropes.
"Groundhog Day" is primarily a comedy whereas "Before I Fall" is essentially an existential drama wrapped up in a teen movie and to the best of my recollection there isn't a single funny moment in it.
In fact the biggest problem that "Before I Fall" has isn't the accusation that it's simply ripping off the likes of "Groundhog Day" but its identity problem in the face of the other seemingly dozens of movies before it that look the same, have titles that sound very similar and are aimed at the same audience.
This is clearly intended for the same young adult audience that the book that it is based on was and that has given it an 'oh, here we go again' vibe for me.
This film does have a one major plus in its favour however.
Its star is Zoey Deutch who has been very good in a host of films of late including "Everybody Wants Some", "Why Him?" and "Beautiful Creatures"
And Deutch is all over this film.
I cannot recall a scene in which she does not appear or is not the focus.
This is by design of course because this film is told from Deutch's character Samantha's perspective via her voiceover.
She has been in a car crash with her three best friends which has apparently killed her but she wakes up again that same morning over and over again to relive the hours leading up to her demise.
The same alarm clock mechanism that jolts Bill Murray into each do-over day in "Groundhog Day" also kicks Samantha's repeat day into life.
Rather than Sonny and Cher on a radio alarm clock though Samantha has an iPhone that chimes in with Dangerous by Big Data (I think) to let her know that she still has at least one more run through of the same day to deal with,
For the first few times this only cements the idea that we are just watching a teen-oriented "Groundhog Day" ripoff.
To its credit though "Before I Fall" does finds its own identity reasonably quickly as it starts to delve into Samantha's ever increasing awareness that maybe she and her friends are simply not as nice as they assumed that they were.
It would have worked even better had Samantha's 'not niceness' not been defined by what is pretty standard behaviour in a movie teen character.
We see her at various moments being blunt, dismissive and rude to her family including her caring Mother (Jennifer Beals) and her cute as all hell little sister Izzy (Erica Tremblay- yes- Jacob's sister)
Then there is the weird girl in school who is a social outcast because she doesn't wear cool clothes or brush her hair and draws images that practically scream 'depressed as hell and about to blow'.
Also Samantha is keen to unburden herself of her virginity and her boyfriend of a year (and hottest guy in school) Rob has been assigned the task.
This will take place that night which also happens to be on Cupid's Day.
This appears to be Valentine's Day as celebrated by a High School and there is a highly organised distribution of roses that is just asking for trouble.
Whoever gets the most roses is the most popular girl in school and by definition the fewest (or none) the least popular.
Scruffy McTustley Julia obviously won't get a rose neither will the gay girl nor will Kent the boy who is obviously madly in love with Samantha but is just too smart and geeky to get a look in.
It is very cliched stuff.
This would all be pretty much unwatchable if not for the presence of Zoey Deutch who does a terrific job with some pretty thankless dialogue.
On several occasions she is required to earnestly express love for friends and family and the character has just not earned these sorts of moments.
We have not seen her do anything so bad that her character requires this sort of redemption.
The one exception perhaps is a crime not of ill intent but of inaction.
Her best friend Lindsay (Halston Sage) is an awful, shallow girl who treats most people outside of the group of four friends (and some within it) with disdain.
She affords special 'attention' to Juliet and doesn't pass up an opportunity to publically abuse her with insults.
Samantha - too caught up in her own life simply allows this.
Julia along with the lovesick Kent becomes the focus of Samantha's repeated day activity after the usual period of anger and acceptance of course.
The realisations she has are poorly executed though.
Kent has a past with Samantha and Julia has one with Lindsay.
They are very cheap devices to provide depth and substance to the plot and to Samantha's redemption.
There isn't really anything too much to recommend here besides the work of Deutch and the one or two moments that the film truly earns an emotional connection to its characters.
The tortured Julia garners something of connection and the way her story folds into the main one is quite nicely done to be fair.
However Rob and Lindsay are shallow, cardboard cutout characters whose storylines are never less than highly predictable with deeply incomplete endings.
Samantha's other two friends Ally and Elody function only as 'make up the numbers' ethnic tickbox characters and have not a thing to add to the story.
The relationship between Kent and Samantha is also undercooked and her sudden change of heart is totally unbelievable.
By the time the silly, cheat of an ending arrives none of these peripheral characters matter anyway.
This fault above all is possibly the worst.
I never felt invested enough in any of the characters to really care too much how it all turned out.
RATING: 70 / 100
CONCLUSION: Before I fall is a better movie than it should be mainly thanks to the work of Deutch and a handful of things that it does right but it can't ever rise above the tired cliched characters and often hollow sentiment that it employs without ever earning.
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Kian Lawley, Elena Kampouris, Cynthy Wu, Medalion Rahimi, Erica Tremblay, Liv Hewson, Jennifer Beals, Diego Boneta, David Hardware
Screenplay: Maria Maggenti (based on Lauren Oliver's novel)
Music Score by: Adam Taylor
Cinematography: Michael Fimognari
Edited by: Joe Landauer
Running Time: 99 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Mild Profanity
Running Time: 99 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Mild Profanity
"Before I Fall" in many way not only acknowledges the inevitable comparisons but seems to actively embrace it.
Not that there is much else in common beyond the concept and a few shared tropes.
"Groundhog Day" is primarily a comedy whereas "Before I Fall" is essentially an existential drama wrapped up in a teen movie and to the best of my recollection there isn't a single funny moment in it.
In fact the biggest problem that "Before I Fall" has isn't the accusation that it's simply ripping off the likes of "Groundhog Day" but its identity problem in the face of the other seemingly dozens of movies before it that look the same, have titles that sound very similar and are aimed at the same audience.
This is clearly intended for the same young adult audience that the book that it is based on was and that has given it an 'oh, here we go again' vibe for me.
This film does have a one major plus in its favour however.
Its star is Zoey Deutch who has been very good in a host of films of late including "Everybody Wants Some", "Why Him?" and "Beautiful Creatures"
And Deutch is all over this film.
I cannot recall a scene in which she does not appear or is not the focus.
This is by design of course because this film is told from Deutch's character Samantha's perspective via her voiceover.
She has been in a car crash with her three best friends which has apparently killed her but she wakes up again that same morning over and over again to relive the hours leading up to her demise.
The same alarm clock mechanism that jolts Bill Murray into each do-over day in "Groundhog Day" also kicks Samantha's repeat day into life.
Rather than Sonny and Cher on a radio alarm clock though Samantha has an iPhone that chimes in with Dangerous by Big Data (I think) to let her know that she still has at least one more run through of the same day to deal with,
For the first few times this only cements the idea that we are just watching a teen-oriented "Groundhog Day" ripoff.
 |
| Zoey Deutch |
It would have worked even better had Samantha's 'not niceness' not been defined by what is pretty standard behaviour in a movie teen character.
We see her at various moments being blunt, dismissive and rude to her family including her caring Mother (Jennifer Beals) and her cute as all hell little sister Izzy (Erica Tremblay- yes- Jacob's sister)
Then there is the weird girl in school who is a social outcast because she doesn't wear cool clothes or brush her hair and draws images that practically scream 'depressed as hell and about to blow'.
Also Samantha is keen to unburden herself of her virginity and her boyfriend of a year (and hottest guy in school) Rob has been assigned the task.
This will take place that night which also happens to be on Cupid's Day.
This appears to be Valentine's Day as celebrated by a High School and there is a highly organised distribution of roses that is just asking for trouble.
Whoever gets the most roses is the most popular girl in school and by definition the fewest (or none) the least popular.
Scruffy McTustley Julia obviously won't get a rose neither will the gay girl nor will Kent the boy who is obviously madly in love with Samantha but is just too smart and geeky to get a look in.
It is very cliched stuff.
This would all be pretty much unwatchable if not for the presence of Zoey Deutch who does a terrific job with some pretty thankless dialogue.
On several occasions she is required to earnestly express love for friends and family and the character has just not earned these sorts of moments.
We have not seen her do anything so bad that her character requires this sort of redemption.
The one exception perhaps is a crime not of ill intent but of inaction.
Her best friend Lindsay (Halston Sage) is an awful, shallow girl who treats most people outside of the group of four friends (and some within it) with disdain.
She affords special 'attention' to Juliet and doesn't pass up an opportunity to publically abuse her with insults.
Samantha - too caught up in her own life simply allows this.
Julia along with the lovesick Kent becomes the focus of Samantha's repeated day activity after the usual period of anger and acceptance of course.
The realisations she has are poorly executed though.
Kent has a past with Samantha and Julia has one with Lindsay.
They are very cheap devices to provide depth and substance to the plot and to Samantha's redemption.
 |
| Bitchy best friend, Douchebag boyfriend, pitiable outsiders, sweet nerdy love interest.... every cliche box ticked |
The tortured Julia garners something of connection and the way her story folds into the main one is quite nicely done to be fair.
However Rob and Lindsay are shallow, cardboard cutout characters whose storylines are never less than highly predictable with deeply incomplete endings.
Samantha's other two friends Ally and Elody function only as 'make up the numbers' ethnic tickbox characters and have not a thing to add to the story.
The relationship between Kent and Samantha is also undercooked and her sudden change of heart is totally unbelievable.
By the time the silly, cheat of an ending arrives none of these peripheral characters matter anyway.
This fault above all is possibly the worst.
I never felt invested enough in any of the characters to really care too much how it all turned out.
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