Please, please, Lord … if I have to re-live the same 24-hour period over and over and over again, can you make sure it’s not a bad hair day? What day would you love to live over? If you had to spend one last day reliving for eternity, which would it be? A day you fall in love, maybe? A day on vacation? A day of some great goal or accomplishment? Maybe an ordinary day that you just wanted to spice up? I honestly don’t know what I would choose, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be a school day. Being confined on your last day forever would feel like eternal jail.
It’s Cupid Day at Twilight High School (home of the Vamps!), and Sam (Zoey Deutch) and her self-centered crew are expecting truckloads of flowers from their many admirers. Groundhog Day #1 in Before I Fall plays quite like a laughless Mean Girls – Sam, Lindsay (Halston Sage), Ally (Cynthy Wu), and Elody (Medalion Rahimi) carpool both in and out of vehicles. The inseparable foursome takes cues from queen bee Lindsay on how to treat certain people, most notably teen mess Juliet (Elena Kampouris). The quartet is invited to a party that evening where Sam was finally going to give in to the sexual advances of her steady, Rob (Kian Lawley) —
Good gravy, “Kian” “Halston” “Cynthy” “Medalion” ?! Who named all you people?
Anyhoo, whatever good time might have happened is ruined when Juliet shows up to dis everybody, so instead of disappointing sex, the girls are treated to a mildly worse ending when their car gets run off the road at 12:40 a.m. Next scene, Sam wakes up completely unharmed and it’s Cupid Day all over; the tragedy has yet to happen.
You know how this works – Sam has to figure out what went wrong and set it right or else relive Cupid Day over and over again for eternity. So what was it, Sam? Were you supposed to have sex with Rob? Were you supposed to tell Lindsay to stick it? Were you supposed to be sympathetic to the girl who groans, “I’m in hetero-normative Hell” each and every time flowers are passed out in class?
Now obviously, this film wasn’t made for me. I could tell that the minute I stepped into a theater entirely full of high school students … and nobody else. Years ago, I reviewed Magic Mike adding a top ten list of “most uncomfortable I-don’t-belong-here films.” Before I Fall wouldn’t make the list, but might rate an honorable mention. And yet, I generally enjoy films aimed at teenagers. Why? I mean, you’d think I’d be repulsed: as father of a teenage girl, I don’t particularly relish the “losing your virginity” screen discussions. Go figure. But I like teen films because, quite simply, films aimed at teenagers tend to be cleverer than films aimed at other audiences. Perhaps the producers know theirs is the most jaded audience. Perhaps they remember their teen days more vividly than those experience last week. Who knows? But “clever teen film” is definitely a thing. Yes, the
teacher beginning his lecture by writing “Sisyphus” on the board is a clue. Is the origami bird a clue? How about the nail polish? This plot is decidedly a retread, but it makes you pay attention – if you don’t catch the details of the tragedy, the conversations will seem like giant non-sequiturs.
Goodness knows, I wouldn’t want a flock of films to follow my favorite “gimmick” plots – Groundhog Day, Memento, Rashômon, etc. But I could stand to see one or two a year just to see how a different writer/director handles the material. While I didn’t particularly fall for Before I Fall, I enjoyed what was on screen, the first time; I certainly don’t wish to see this film again and again and again …
♪Over and over
I lived Friday once more anew
Over and over
This day made me blue
Over and over
BFF is a tool
Over and over
Need to escape school
‘Cause it’s Hell for eternity
Suck, for all eternity
Wreck, waiting ahead for me
Smile, share if you agree
Karm-a full eternity
Love, is what I must study
And plus my boyfriend
Is one big jerk
So over (Over and over) and over
I’ll repeat this Hell afresh
And over (Over and over) and over
Rotting in my flesh♫
Rated PG-13, 99 Minutes
D: Ry Russo-Young
W: Maria Maggenti
Genre: Teenage wasteland
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Jaded teens
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Trapped teens
♪ Parody inspired by “Personality”
