"Before I Fall" A Teen Stuck In Purgatory Until She Get's Her Story Straight

"Before I Fall" is a young adult melodrama with echoes of "Groundhog Day"  (Bill Murray & Toni McDowell 1993) and "If I Stay" starring the charming Chloe Grace Moretz (2014.)  Before making this offshoot comparison,  this is not a comedy like "Groundhog Day" and it doesn't have the emotional impact "If Stay" delivers from a teenage girl in a coma combing over her life.  However, it does have some good messaging, albeit pounded into your brain, again & again.  The movie is directed by Ry Russ-Young (b Amer 1981) and has a cast of likeable stars despite the fact the bloom is off the rose for the leads playing teen ingenues (all are in their 20's.)  Our appealing heroine, Samantha "Sam" (Zoey Deutch) is a pretty, popular girl whose grown-up "from a girl with a big heart" according to her mom (played by Jennifer Beals) to a mean girl with a big ego and little backbone.  But, hey, she is one of the fantastic four girls whose loving friendship and beauty queen looks earn them the lions' share of roses for Cupids Day at high school.  The affluent & lush setting is in the pacific northwest which is the haven for teen screen dramas.  All is fairly rosy & cozy as the 4 score their fair share of adoration and a ride together in Lindsay's car.  Lindsay (Halson Sage, "Paper Town") is a more convincing mean girl than Rachel McAdams to Lindsay Lohan in "Mean Girls," (2004.)  The movie's messages are commendable if not carpe diem cliche:  "What you do today matters."  Still, there's something to be said for telling your loved ones their loved & why.  The typecast, good-looking jock gets knocked a peg and pushed over a barrel for the kindhearted super good guy, Kent (Logan Miller.)  The teen outsiders gain empathy from Sam as she is trapped being Sam I am reduex no matter what she does until she does do some things right.  "Maybe things can change - maybe I can change them."  The eerie, vexing ambience turns annoying after too much repetition.  "Before I Fall" doesn't give competition to "Groundhog Day" or "It's a Wonderful Life,"  but it is a diverting, contemporary Sisyphus story with an appealing sage; Samantha played by the lovely Zoey Deutch.