By: Andrew Wing

The Fallout is a 2021 American teen drama film written and directed by Megan Park (most known for her role in the television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager). The film stars Jenna Ortega (Jane the Virgin, You), Maddie Ziegler (The Book of Henry, Music), Julie Bowen (Modern Family, Happy Gilmore), John Ortiz (Fast & Furious, Fast & Furious 6, Bumblebee), Niles Fitch (St. Vincent, This Is Us), Will Ropp (The Way Back, Silk Road), and Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars, The Divergent Series). The score is composed by American musician and actor Finneas O’Connell (Billie Eilish’s brother).

The film follows Vada Cavell (Ortega), a high school student who deals with significant emotional trauma following a school shooting which she experienced in a bathroom stall alongside Mia (Ziegler) and Quinton (Fitch). Together, the three form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to healing in a world that feels forever changed.

The Fallout had its premiere at South by Southwest on March 17, 2021, where it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in the Narrative Feature Film Competition, the Audience Choice Award in the Narrative Feature Competition, and the Brightcove Illumination Award. It was released on January 27, 2022, on HBO Max by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.

THE GOOD

The hype surrounding The Fallout has been very hard to miss, to say the least. I remember a little about it after it premiered at South by Southwest last year, but once it came to HBO Max in late January, the buzz surrounding the film was insane. With that said, you are probably wondering why I am just now reviewing it in mid-May. Well, I am too, but after a busy semester of college, I have finally gotten some free time and The Fallout was right at the top of my watchlist so I checked it out. So was it worth the wait? Did it live up to my expectations and was all the hype real? Well, there’s only one way to know, so keep reading to find out!

So yeah, aside from having a busy semester that kept watching and reviewing this film on the back burner, when it came out, I had just recently watched and review another film that touched on the same topic of the after-effects of a school shooting, and that film was Fran Kranz’s Mass (see my full review here) that is now streaming on Hulu, and all jokes aside, I didn’t want to watch another heavy film with difficult subject matter like this right away. So months later I did, and to get right into the review, the way actor-turned-director Megan Park wrote and directed this film in her feature film debut was remarkable.

As I said in the introduction, The Fallout is a film about high school students that have to deal with a recent school tragedy that was a school shooting. And with that said, this movie is extremely emotional as it deals with a very difficult subject matter and thanks to Park’s direction and screenplay, it goes about it with a ton of empathy and sensitivity and in both an honestly raw and an incredibly sincere way. With her direction, it was all great, but a couple of her choices really stood out to me. Things like how she would let certain scenes sit for a while so you could get all of the underlying emotions that were being conveyed and I also liked all of the texting scenes going on between Vada and Mia as they silently packed a punch.

Next with her writing, I loved how she made a point with her screenplay to show audiences that people deal with tragic events like this in their own way and grieve in their own way, and that there is no “right” way to grieve, and we should all be understanding of that. Also, despite the difficult subject matter at hand, Park still added humor to the script and I thought she did it perfectly. All in all, Park’s directorial debut was impressive and it is easily one of the most daring debuts in recent years as she tackled complex emotions tied to a terrible trauma through the eyes of a high school teenager.

And that certain high school teenager was portrayed by Jenna Ortega. Now, all of the performances across the board were astonishing, but Ortega absolutely stole the show. Before diving into her performance, it just needs to be said that Ortega is about to blow up, if she hasn’t already after having quite the year with both this and the A24 slasher film X from Ti West that Ted reviewed (see his full review here). But for real, she is an amazing actress at the young age of nineteen and I see a lot of awards in her very near future. But in this specifically, Ortega was phenomenal and her range of emotion was utterly ridiculous. It was hard to fathom how believable her performance was and I know it won’t, but she should really get looked at at next year’s Academy Awards when it comes to the Best Actress category because she was that good and her performance made the film unforgettable.

Aside from Ortega though, as I said, all of the performances were astonishing. First, with Maddie Ziegler, she was really good and as another nineteen-year-old like Ortega, she has a very bright future. Next with both Julie Bowen and John Ortiz as they played Vada’s parents, Patricia and Carlos Cavell. They were both so good, and Ortiz in particular had an “Oscar” scene towards the end that had me on the verge of tears. Niles Fitch was great as well and it was weird to see him in something that wasn’t This Is Us, Will Ropp was very funny as Vada’s best friend Nick, and Shailene Woodley made the most of her smaller role as Vada’s therapist, Anna.

Last but not least, the film’s score that was composed by Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell was nothing short of perfect. The score was brutal and sombering and it just added to the brutality of this movie that was sad, and as I already mentioned, very emotional. We just saw Billie Eilish and him win the Academy Award for Best Original Song with “No Time to Die” from No Time to Die (see Ted’s full review here), and I know it’s a long shot, but I could see O’Connell getting a Best Score nomination at next year’s Academy Awards thanks to his score here.

THE BAD

If you haven’t got the memo yet, The Fallout was a truly incredible film that I don’t have a lot bad to say about. One thing I will say though is that in certain scenes, I felt like they were trying to lay some emotional bait if that makes sense which I could’ve gone without, but at the end of the day, it’s a movie and they are dramatic and try to pull on your emotional heartstrings, so enough said. Also before closing, and I say this as more of a warning before you go ahead and check this out, this movie portrays issues of trauma resulting from an act of violence, so viewer discretion is obviously advised.

THE VERDICT

Behind one of the most impressive directorial debuts in recent memory from Megan Park, The Fallout is a daring film that tackles the complex emotions a high school teenager faces after being a part of a school shooting. As I said, Park’s direction was great, her screenplay was fantastic, it had a sombering score from Finneas O’Connell, and it was backed by incredible performances, most notably Jenna Ortega.

All in all, The Fallout is a really really solid movie, and I implore you to check it out. It’s a movie that deals with a very difficult subject matter in an honest, mature, and appropriate way.

From Ted’s Perspective

A powerful and moving film that handles an extremely difficult subject with a delicate touch, The Fallout is at its core a film about the importance of human connection in the midst of unthinkable tragedy within a disconnected generation. Everything about this movie impressed me, from the acting to the soundtrack, it was just so easy to fall in love with everything about it.