Let's admit it, we've all had those moments or days where everything felt like deja vu. Your friend said something you swear you heard them say already, that Tweet looks so familiar, and you swear you've been at this party with that song playing already. Take this feeling and times it by ten because that is what main character Samantha Kingston experiences in the new movie "Before I Fall." Based on the bestselling young adult novel by Lauren Oliver, Sam Kingston, played by newcomer Zoey Deutch, wakes up on February 13th, the most important day of the year for Sam, also known as Cupid's Day. Think high school flowers from boyfriends and secret admirers.
While Sam goes about her day receiving flower after flower and kissing her cute boyfriend we get a glimpse at what it is like to be the popular girl. Sam and her tight-knit group of three friends make fun of a quite, shy classmate named Juliet and discuss whose house to get ready at for a big party happening that night. All the while Sam is a giggly, nervous mess over the fact that she and her boyfriend are planning on making love for the first time that evening. However, as Sam and her friends drink, dance, and laugh Juliet arrives unexpectedly and calls out Sam and her friends. In a disheartening scene, Juliet is thrown around the room while spectators throw alcohol on her.
Once Juliet leaves Sam and her friends quickly rush out only to find themselves in a roll-over accident on the drive home. When Sam wakes up she finds that it isn't February 14th, but February 13th-again. What transpires is a Groundhog Day movie made for the modern teenage girl. Sam isn't sure what is happening and tries to change what she can so that she can make it out of this endless loop. In the end, she learns what it means to actually live.
While this movie is definitely geared toward the young adult crowd I think we can all learn a thing or two from this film at any age. One of the lines that Sam Kingston repeats throughout the movie hits home:
"Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know.”
This movie is a good reminder for those who live in the moment and a nice jolt for those, like myself, who are constantly looking ahead. All we have is now, today, this moment. Why worry about the small things like a broken phone charger, or a small squabble with a friend, or that guy that cut you off the highway? We aren't guaranteed a tomorrow so why not make the most of now?
This is a message that the new movie "Before I Fall" communicates beautifully. By the end you find yourself taking a look inward. What should I really be worrying about? How can I live for now? I highly recommend seeing the movie, especially if you are a lover of the book.
"Before I Fall" is in theaters nationwide now. Watch the trailer here.