"Before I Fall" one-on-one interview

TV Toni
Mar 1, 2017
2 min read

Sundance/Los Angeles

Who hasn't felt like they are stuck in a rut. Work, home, sleep, repeat. We have all had those weeks right? Well so too does Samantha (played by Zoey Deutch). But her rut is - as the kids say - legit in the movie "Before I Fall."

The one quarter of a millennial mean girl group is stuck on repeat, much like our generation used to have the CD's get stuck. That's happening for her, but she is living February 13th over and over and over and.... well, you get the point.

In a very 'cause and effect' lesson, this movie gives viewers a look at what high school is like. And, spoiler alert, it hasn't really changed at all. There is still a tortured outcast, a jock who loves to drink, the popular girls who have bitchy turned up a notch, and the geeky guy who will do whatever it takes to be noticed. Even if that means throwing a party at his parents house just to get his dream girl to come over. See? I'm telling ya, high school hasn't changed that much.

The movie was a little too predictable for this older gal. But it has three very good things going for it. The first of which is something that I rarely see in movies. It is the ability to open and close a film with precision and thoughtfulness. Hardly ever does a movie "close the circle" or put bring it back around visually or story-wise for me. "Before I Fall" did that. The opening and the close are virtually the same but have very different meanings from one another. It closed the loop very very well.

Second is the music. Man, this movie has some great tunes. Yeah, I said tunes. People still call it that right?

Lastly, while "Before I Fall," isn't groundbreaking. Far from it, but what it does deliver are performances from the next crop of 'up and comers'. Zoey Deutch (daughter of actress Lea Thompson and director Howard Deutch) in particular is doing right by paying her dues in this one. Graduating from TV series like "The Suite Life on Deck" and "The Ringer", she recently starred opposite from some of Hollywood's biggest names - Cranston, Franco, and DeNiro just to name a few. Now, he is leading a movie of her very own independent film. She carries it well - mature and with confidence. Expect to see more of her.