Alternatives is the tagline to discuss entertainment outside of literature. It may encompass television, movies, games, and music.

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Alternatives
Movie Review –
Before I Fall (2017)

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Death, Fantasy (?)
Duration: 99 Minutes
Directed By: Ry Russo-Young
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Kian Lawley, Jennifer Beals, Diego Boneta, Elena Kampouris

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.

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Reaction

This movie lacked a lot of everything.

I can’t begin to explain how incomplete the viewing experience was. It’s a shame because the problem Before I Fall is challenged by is its own plot line. Mean Girls? Fine. Groundhog Day? Fine. What this film (and story) lacks is a sound direction that properly feeds into — and ties cohesively with — the endgame scene, and particularly where it wanted to go and the message it was trying to achieve. Change is good and change is necessary; but the pockets of time led by the Groundhog Day do-overs left a lot to be desired.

More importantly, the Juliet subplot was not compelling at all. Don’t get me wrong, I can sympathize with her situation, but it holds so little footing that any sense of fulfillment is lost re: ending. Why? Because while I can understand the emotions that comes with being bullied and shit on — leading to actions you cannot take back — I don’t necessarily think she would have the capacity to put herself in the position that she found her in so immediately that led to the chain reaction of events.

And that romance? Flimsy, unsubstantiated, and boring.

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Casting

I can’t even begin to explain how unfulfilling the delivery of acting was.

The silver lining is that the lead, Zoey Deutch, brought life to her character while everyone else could totally be substituted out with another actor and it would have made minimal difference. I don’t have much else to say besides that.

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Afterthoughts

At the end, this film entertains a deep message in the actions and words we do/speak. From that alone, it held a lot of promise. But, it’s an issue of the narrative path that simply didn’t work for me as a viewer. To ask a lot of questions but to leave the answers unsubstantiated? It can work but it didn’t for this film.

Have you seen or read Before I Fall, or want to see it?

Cheers,
Joey

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