“Before I Fall” is a female-centric film: Ry Russo-Young (“Nobody Walks”) directs Maria Maggenti’s screenplay and creates a young and current dramatic version of Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day.” Starring Zoey Deutch (“Everybody Wants Some,” “Why Him”) as Sam, the film recounts her last day of life, living it over and over again, trying to somehow make sense of the repetition. What she gains in “one day” is what we all hope to do in a lifetime.
We meet Sam as she awakens on Feb. 12, the day her school is celebrating Valentine’s Day through a popularity contest. She lives a privileged life along with her three best friends — or, in text form, their “bae.” (That means “before anyone else”; you’ll thank me later for that information.)
We watch as the four friends talk about Sam’s plan to lose her virginity that night to her boyfriend, acting in the most judgmental and superficial ways possible. In other words, they are acting like typical high school girls who are lucky to be a part of the popular crowd. But that night, they are in a horrific car accident. Sam wakes up, thinking she had a bad dream, only to realize that she is inexplicably living this day over and over again.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE as it appears in the Friday, March 3 edition of The Daily Journal