Director Ry Russo-Young
Genre Drama | Mystery
Cast Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Medalion Rahimi
Rating PG-13
Release Date March 3rd, 2017
“February 12 is just another day in Sam’s charmed life until it turns out to be her last. Stuck reliving her last day over one inexplicable week, Sam untangles the mystery around her death and discovers everything she’s in danger of losing.”
Before I Fall is a drama mystery, based on the book from author Lauren Oliver, which was originally published in 2010. Fox optioned the rights to make the book into a film around the middle of the same year. Fast forward about 7 years and here we are. The cast includes Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, and Medalion Rahimi.
With a creative and engaging premise, Before I Fall is a genuinely entertaining film that is surprisingly inspirational at its core. With a relatively short runtime of just over an hour and a half, the film is paced well and never seems to overstay its welcome. I found myself immersed right from the beginning, and I really enjoyed the accompanying soundtrack as well. Regrettably, I have yet to read the book due to limited availability at my local library (yes I’m too cheap to buy it), but it has to become available at some point. The plus side of that is it allowed me to experience the film version without the commonly detrimental bias that comes along with comparing it to the book. I really enjoyed the concept and felt that the plot had impressive depth, especially considering it could have easily fallen into the hole of your traditional generic high school flick. Instead, Before I Fall cements itself as one of the better book-to-film adaptations in the last few years, and I look forward to finally reading it.
Before I Fall has a solid cast that performs about as well as anyone could have hoped. Zoey Deutch is the lead in the film and by far my favorite of the bunch. As an actress, she is able to command the screen without forcing anything. I felt like she was perfect for this role, as she was able to display a wide range of emotion during the roller-coaster ride of events. Most recently she was in Dirty Grandpa, Everybody Wants Some!!, and Why Him?, so this was a nice change of pace for her. I enjoyed Logan Miller's character and felt that his chemistry with Deutch was a big factor in the success of the film. Miller has a solid resume since joining the acting game in 2008, having starred in Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, as well as small roles in AMC's hit show The Walking Dead and A Dog's Purpose. Young actress Erica Tremblay was the cutest little girl in her role as the little sister, and she seems to be building up quite the resume. She currently has 10 acting credits according to IMDb, including a small role in the hit show The Killing, as well as the recent horror film The Bye Bye Man. I wouldn’t say the rest of the cast was necessarily noteworthy, but it was solid.
Before I Fall is a very entertaining film that will have you anticipating its inevitable climax. As I referenced before I can't speak to how the film holds up to the book, but judging by user reviews it seems to hold up pretty well. The idea of a "Groundhog Day" approach with a bit of a twist might seem played out, but it works, and at the end of the day that’s what matters. For me, Before I Fall was well worth the price of admission, and easily earns my recommendation for anyone who can appreciate the genre.
