''Before I Fall'' is a 2017 American

teen Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by Ry Russo-Young and written by

Maria Maggenti Maria Maggenti (born c. 1962) is an American film director and screenwriter, who has traditionally created independent films. She was the script editor for the American television series ''Without a Trace'' (2003) and has written many episodes for ...

and

Gina Prince-Bythewood Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood (born June 10, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. She began her career as a writer for multiple television shows in the 1990s, including the anthology series ''CBS Schoolbreak Special'', for which she ...

, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Lauren Oliver. The film stars

Zoey Deutch Zoey Francis Chaya Thompson Deutch ( ; born November 10, 1994) is an American actress and producer. The younger daughter of director Howard Deutch and actress-director Lea Thompson, Deutch made her acting debut in television during the early 20 ...

Halston Sage Halston Sage (born May 10, 1993) is an American actress. She is best known for her television roles, such as Grace on the Nickelodeon series '' How to Rock'' (2012), Amber on the NBC series ''Crisis'' (2014), Alara Kitan on the Fox series '' T ...

Logan Miller Logan Miller (born ) is an American actor. He is known for starring in the Disney XD sitcom '' I'm in the Band'' (2009–2011) and for voicing Sam Alexander / Nova in the animated series ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' (2012–2017). In films, he has s ...

Kian Lawley Kian Robert Lawley (born September 2, 1995) is an American YouTuber, influencer and actor. Lawley launched his personal YouTube channel, superkian13, in 2010. Lawley has also been a part of collaborative YouTube channels, including ''Our2ndLife' ...

, Elena Kampouris,

Diego Boneta Diego Andrés González Boneta (born 29 November 1990) is a Mexican actor, producer and singer. He gained wider recognition after starring in ''Rock of Ages (2012 film), Rock of Ages'' (2012) alongside Tom Cruise and in the Netflix biographical ...

, and

Jennifer Beals Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''My Bodyguard'' (1980), before receiving critical acclaim for her performance as Alexandra Owens in ''Flashdance'' (1983), for which she won NAACP Image ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on January 21, 2017, and was theatrically released on March 3, 2017, by

Open Road Films Open Road Films, LLC (formerly known briefly as Global Road Entertainment) is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Tom Ortenberg on March 26, 2011, as a joint ven ...

. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $18million worldwide against its $5million budget.

Plot

Samantha Kingston wakes on February 12, known as Cupid's Day. She is picked up by her friends,

queen bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...

Lindsay, Ally and Elody, who are excited about Sam's plans to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Rob that night. During a class lecture on

Sisyphus In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He reveals Zeus's abduction of Aegina (mythology), Aegina to the river god As ...

, students distribute roses, with Sam getting one from Rob and another from a boy named Kent McFuller, a former grade school friend who is in love with her. Kent invites her to a party at his house, but she is unenthusiastic. During lunch the girls make fun of Juliet Sykes, an outsider girl whom they view as a "psycho". At the party, Juliet shows up. Lindsay confronts her and the two fight, resulting in many of the guests dousing her with beer. Humiliated, Juliet leaves in tears. As Sam and her friends are driving back from the party, the car hits something and crashes, apparently killing them. Sam wakes in her room on Cupid's Day again. Thinking the previous day was just a nightmare, Sam continues on with her day but finds that the similar events occur, and they again crash after leaving the party, though slightly later. Sam wakes up on the same day again. Realizing she is in a

time loop The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby Character (arts), characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. Time loops are co ...

, she convinces the group to have a sleepover instead of going to the party. They avoid the crash, but find out later in the night that Juliet committed suicide, with Sam also discovering that Lindsay and Juliet were once best friends. Even though Sam manages to avoid the crash, she continues to live through the same day over and over again. Realizing that nothing she does matters, she starts doing whatever she wants, first airing her grievances with everyone she knows, then trying to spend more quality time with the ones she loves. During these loops, she attempts to make amends with Anna Cartullo, a student she had bullied, and becomes closer to Kent, who comforts her after an unsatisfying first sexual experience with Rob. In another loop, at the party, Sam and Kent remember their earlier friendship, with Kent recalling how she had heroically defended him from a bully after his father died and that he had resolved to one day be her hero. Afterwards, they share a kiss. Sam hears the fight between Lindsay and Juliet from the hall and chases after the latter through the woods. Sam tries to apologize and learns from Juliet that Lindsay's misery from her parents' fighting before they divorced caused her to start wetting her bed. When the two were on a camping trip and Lindsay wet her sleeping bag, she blamed Juliet and had been bullying her ever since. Juliet commits suicide by running in front of Lindsay's car, horrifying Sam, and making her realize that it was Juliet who was hit by the car on the original day. Sam wakes up again with a sense of calm and understanding, knowing what she must do to end the loop. She resolves to be kind and considerate as she goes about her day. She sends roses to both Juliet and Kent, breaks up with Rob and tells her friends why she loves them. At the party, she kisses Kent and tells him she loves him. She again intervenes to save Juliet, but when she attempts to run into traffic, Sam pushes her out of the way at the last second and is killed by a truck. As she dies, Sam remembers all the good times she has had. Her ghost sees Juliet standing over her body saying that Sam saved her, but Sam states: "No. You saved me."

Cast

as Samantha Kingston *

as Lindsay Edgecombe *

as Kent McFuller *

as Rob Cokran * Elena Kampouris as Juliet Sykes *

as Mr. Daimler *

as Mrs. Kingston, Samantha and Izzy's mother * Cynthy Wu as Ally Harris *

Medalion Rahimi Medalion Rahimi (born July 15, 1992) is an American actress of Iranian Muslim and Jewish descent. She is known for playing Princess Isabella on the 2017 ABC Shonda Rhimes show ''Still Star-Crossed'', and Elody in the 2017 feature film '' Before ...

as Elody * Liv Hewson as Anna Cartullo *

Nicholas Lea Nicholas Lea (born Nicholas Christopher Herbert; June 22, 1962) is a Canadian actor known for his portrayal of Alex Krycek on ''The X-Files'' and of Tom Foss on ''Kyle XY''. Partner of actress Crystal Balint. Life and career Lea was born in New ...

as Dan Kingston, Samantha and Izzy's father * Erica Tremblay as Izzy Kingston, Samantha's sister * Claire Corlett as Devil Cupid * Roan Curtis as Marian Sykes

Production

On July 15, 2010,

Fox 2000 Pictures Fox 2000 Pictures was an American film production company within The Walt Disney Studios. It was a sister studio of the larger film studios 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures, specializing in producing independent films in mid-range ...

bought the feature film rights to the teen novel '' Before I Fall'', Lauren Oliver's debut, which was published that year.

was hired to adapt the novel into a screenplay, while Jonathan Shestack was set to produce and Ginny Pennekamp to co-produce. The film is about a high school student who re-lives the same day until she gets everything in her life right. In 2011, the script was listed among the Black List of best unproduced screenplays. In 2012,

was attached to direct, but nothing materialized. Ry Russo-Young was attached as the film's director. On September 15, 2015, it was announced that

had been cast in the film's lead role, Samantha Kingston.

Brian Robbins Brian Robbins (born Brian Levine, November 22, 1963) is an American film producer, director, and executive. He is the Co-CEO of Paramount Global; President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon; and Chief Content Offi ...

and Matthew Kaplan produced the film through their

Awesomeness Films AwesomenessTV Holdings, LLC, often shortened to Awesomeness, is an American digital media and entertainment network company owned by Paramount Global. Established in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola, the company operated a network init ...

, along with Shestack, with production starting in late October 2015. On October 27, 2015, more cast was announced, consisting of

, and Elena Kampouris. Good Universe handled the film's international sales at the

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held annually in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance, and acquire films. Participants come from more than 7 ...

. On November 3, 2015,

joined the film's cast, to play Samantha's mother. On November 20, 2015, Liv Hewson was cast in the film to play Anna Cartullo. Adam Taylor composed the film's score.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

on the film began on November 16, 2015, in Squamish,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, where they filmed at

Quest University Quest University (officially Quest University Canada) was a private, not-for-profit, secular liberal arts and sciences university. The university opened in September 2007 with an inaugural class of 73 and suspended academic operations in April ...

. Shooting also took place in and around

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Filming ended on December 19, 2015.

Release

In May 2016,

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. ''Before I Fall'' had its world premiere at the

on January 21, 2017. The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 7, 2017, but was moved up to March 3. It also screened in Italy at Giffoni Film Festival on July 18, 2017.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 30, 2017, in the United States by

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

Reception

Box office

''Before I Fall'' made $12.2million in the United States and Canada and $6.7million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $18.9million. In the United States and Canada, ''Before I Fall'' opened alongside '' The Shack'' and '' Logan'', and was projected to gross around $4million in its opening weekend. It ended up opening to $4.69million. In its second weekend the film grossed $3.1million, dropping just 34% and again finishing 6th at the box office.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 64% based on 124 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Before I Fall''s familiar ingredients are enlivened by a fresh YA perspective and a strong performance from emerging star Zoey Deutch." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while

PostTrak PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios. History The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a fil ...

reported filmgoers gave a 72% overall positive score. Abbey Bender of ''

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

'' gave the film a generally positive review and praised Ry Russo-Young's direction. She disliked the ending but noted "along the way, though, there are plenty of scenes of compellingly lush nature and teenage girlhood."

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

gave it 2.5 stars out of 5, while Susan Wloszczyna of

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

gave it 3 out of 4.

Awards and nominations

The film earned a nomination in 2017

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

Choice Movie: Drama category, and the cast also earned nominations:

in the 2017

Choice Movie: Drama Actress category and

in the Choice Movie: Drama Actor category for the movie. Lawley went on to win the award.

References

External links

* * * {{Ry Russo-Young 2017 films 2010s high school films 2017 independent films 2010s teen drama films American high school films American independent films American mystery drama films American teen drama films Awesomeness Films films Films about road accidents and incidents Films based on American novels Films based on young adult literature Films scored by Adam Taylor Films shot in Vancouver Films with screenplays by Gina Prince-Bythewood 2010s mystery drama films Open Road Films films Fiction about sacrifices Films set in 2016 Teen mystery films Time loop films 2017 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films 2010s films about time travel English-language mystery drama films Teen Choice Award winning films English-language teen drama films