Delayed Reaction: Before I Fall

Premise: A teenager keeps reliving the day she's going to die.

 

I like Groundhog Day stories and I like Zoey Deutch. This movie was as inevitable for me as her character's fate. In the broad strokes, I liked what the movie was doing. It builds an eventful day with a number of benchmark moments. It sets up several relationships with the main character that have room for easy improvements. It's a by the numbers execution of an idea that people like me find innately interesting.

 

The movie is a bit of a waste of Zoey Deutch though. It's not very fun. Her ease in front of the camera, looks, and relatability all should work well for this kind of teen movie. However, this movie is different from any other repeating day movie I can think of. It doesn't have any fun with the idea. Groundhog Day, Happy Death Day, and Palm Springs always have at least a period where the character or movie has fun with it. Before I Fall doesn't. The closest equivalent is her "bad girl" day, when she is just awful to most people. One of Deutch's strengths as a performer though is her Juno energy, which she doesn't use at all here. There isn't anything different about this role if it was instead played by Margaret Qualley, Kaitlyn Dever, or even costar Halston Sage. So, Deutch isn't miscast as much as she is misused.

 

I know the movie starts by telling us she's going to die, but this sure felt like a movie where she should've found a way to live. I realize that's tonally incompatible with the movie, but I don't care. The way she ends things with most of her friends and family is almost too clean. She essentially told everyone goodbye that day. She will have died suspiciously. I feel like people will just think she committed suicide. I feel for the guy who likes her who basically got to be with her for 10 minutes before she dies. Perhaps I'm thinking from his perspective too much, but that's brutal. Even the girl she saves is going to be fucked up with survivor's guilt. And there's the simple fact that I'm not sure a life for a life is an appropriate reason to sacrifice yourself. If the girl she saved was ready to commit suicide once, then there's a decent chance she'll try it again later. I know thinking too hard about all this, but the reasoning just doesn't track.

 

Side Note: I got really tired of the name "Cupid Day". Why couldn't they just set it on Valentine's Day and be done with it. "Cupid Day" sounds like they couldn't get the rights to Saint Valentine for the movie.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend