It would be easy to write off Before I Fall as the Groundhog Day of teen weepies but something raw keeps breaking through the formula to pull us in. In adapting Lauren Olivers YA bestseller, director Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks), working from a script by Maria Maggenti, lets glints of honest feeling break through the brick wall of teen formula. Zoey Deutch (Everybody Wants Some!!) excels as Sam Kingston, a high-school mean girl who dies in a car accident. Then she gets up the next morning to repeat the same day for infinity or until, well, she learns something. Think she will? Have you ever seen a movie before?
So lets back up a minute. Its Cupid Day at Sams school in the picturesque Pacific Northwest, and shes decided to use the occasion of the nights kegger to give up her virginity to her jock boyfriend Rob (Kian Lawley). As she and her posse Lindsay (Halston Sage), Ally (Cynthy Wu) and Elody (Medalion Rahimi) drive to school, theyre all excited about the prospect. Russo-Young lets us see the casual cruelty of the girls at school as they bully the nerdy Juliet Sykes (Elena Kampouris) and revel in their own fragile coolness. At the party, thrown at the parents-free home of Kent McFuller (Logan Miller, excellent), whos been crushing on Sam since childhood, the shit and the fan collide.I nsults are hurled, and the girls drive off together in Lindsays SUV to meet their fate.
The rest of the movie is all about teaching life lessons as repetition slowly lets Sam see who shes become. She tries everything to change things: being nicer to Juliet, rejecting Rob in favor of Kent, staying home the night of the party. She even flirts with the dark side. But the cycle continues. In the wash of clichs, Deutch keeps us in Sams corner by bringing sincerity and hard-edged humor to the role. And Russo-Young embraces girl culture without condescending to it. Thats enough to carry you over the sappy hurdles and lift Before I Fall above the YA herd. Its a small comfort, but well take it.
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