Before I Fall is yet another movie created in the image of a book because Hollywood doesn’t like fresh storylines. As someone who has read the novel, I was hoping that this movie wouldn’t turn out like the atrocity that was the Percy Jackson films. I had no doubt that any original plot would be stained with age old cliches. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

The plot centers around the close-minded, popular girl Sam (Zoey Deutch) as she relives the last day of her life before she and friends die in a drunk driving accident. During the seven repeating days, she discovers what her cruelty to people has done to limit herself and hurt others. As she learns how she’s changed to become popular, she manages to irreversibly impact the world around her in just one day.

Deutch has experience with a wide range of movies, from vampire romances to dramas and comedies. This showed as she convincingly played Sam going through character shifts, while still maintaining her core personality. Other characters, such as Rob (Kian Lawley) and Sam’s friends, were less dimensional, but that was more due to the script than any individual talent.

It isn’t a movie with any political or religious message, which you will think is either refreshing or shallow. The philosophical question of how to be remembered is the main motto of the movie. It is this question that causes the movie to be worth watching. Sam starts the movie as being the most extreme version of someone who lives selfishly, but many of her mistakes are entirely familiar. It makes the viewer think back on everything they have ever done and ask if it is enough to be remembered for as good person.

There were some important details left out of the movie that I feel caused unanswered questions and took away from a powerful moments. For one, Sam isn’t dating her emotionally uninvested boyfriend for no reason. The book reveals that she is only dating Rob because he rejected her when she was younger. His attention to her proved that she wasn’t the unpopular girl from 5th grade.

The movie also left out a touching moment with her little sister. In the movie, Sam only talks about how her sister is being bullied, while in the book she talks with her sister about how things change and people can grow. A final mild, but interesting detail they left out was the heart shaped freckle on Kent’s cheek.

All in all, Before I Fall is a teenage movie that entertains and causes minor sadness. Though, if you have time, just read the book instead.