When I saw the trailer for this movie I wasn't expecting much. I thought it looked pretty stupid and wasn't planing on seeing it until I was invited to go to this movie with a friend, and I was genuinely pleasantly surprised. This movie is basically a mix with mean girls and groundhogs day, but unlike both of these comedies Before I Fall is not a comedy. We follow the life of Samantha who is a semi- nice-ish girl who is friends with some of the meanest girls I've seen in any high school movie. Its valentines day, she goes to a party, the girls bully and put down another girl, and Samantha ends up starting the day all over again over and over again. There were some things that worked for this movie and things that did't. The scenery was beautiful and helped elevate the whole film, the soundtrack really worked with the electro-pop music, and the film was surprisingly deep. We also get to see the growth of the main character in an hour and a half which is awesome. What didn't work was the backstory. We don't really find out a whole lot about these mean girls and what makes them mean which is pretty important since this movie is a drama, not a comedy. We also don't know anything about the girl(s) the mean girls bully. Obviously there is a reason for the mean girls to be so cruel, but what is it? I think this movie desperately needed a back story. Another thing that didn't work is that this story was going too many places. There was the boyfriend, the mean girls, the family problems, the weird girl they bully, the lesbian girl, and the awkward boy who is hopelessly in love. Not to mention the whole problem that the day keeps starting over. There was just way too much going on. Overall not great, but not bad either. Solid 6.5 out of 10. A good movie for Nicholas Sparks loving teenage girls, not as awesome for adults.
Review of Before I Fall
