Sometimes, in your youth, you can either become the bully or the victim or just an innocent bystander witnessing an act between the bully and victim. This movie, which is adapted by a young-adult novel, takes a narrative device of a time loophole and inserting it into a tale of redemption especially for a young lady who is mainly popular for her looks and for her personality. But, sometimes, the personality can border onto narcissism and stupidity that can destroy other people's lives that guilt will cloud the person's judgment for the rest of your life because of ego. Does the victim deserve to get bullied? Why does he/she deserve it? Why bully in the first place? The movie surrounds those questions in a familiar, narrative device, however, the tone is so inconsistent that it becomes a bit more melodramatic than usual and gets a bit carried away in its soap-opera message even though the ending is quite suitable for the character's journey.
Samantha (Zoey Deutch) is friends with a group of girls - Lindsay (Halston Sage), Ally (Cynthia Wu) and Elody (Medalion Rahimi). Sam is given a condom because she is going to lose her virginity that night to her boyfriend, Rob (Kian Lawley) and also because it is Valentine's Day. Kent (Logan Miller) talks with Sam and asks her if she like the different rose he got her after a group of girls came in with roses to pass onto. He even asks her if she wants to go to a party, though, Sam declines. The girls have various conversations but also make fun of Juliet (Elena Kampouris), a loner girl who others assume is crazy.
They all agree to go to Kent's party where Kent tries to get Sam's attention once again, but she politely brushes him off. Rob becomes drunk at the party. And later, as the night goes on, Juliet shows up and Lindsay confronts her and spills beer and bullies her as the others joining in, prompting Juliet to leave. Samantha and her group of friends depart and even though it is awkward on the ride back, they get into an accident at 12:39. We cut back to Sam being in her room at the same morning at the start of the movie and she is in disbelief that every event is happening again. As the car crashes again later, she wakes back up in the same exact time.
This is basically a young-adult version of Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow without the action. This is mostly an investigative young-adult story about someone's past than it is to repair someone's character. There is a little bit of repair in the main character but the script by Maria Maggenti boils down to some arguments that felt like it belongs on a TV show that the movie becomes too serious and both heavy-handed on the message. The repetitive variations of the same scene do not improve the quality of the film. It is mostly to explore the themes of self-identity, guilt and redemption that it does not move the narrative forward like the attempted sex scene or the scene in the bathroom in which it is revealed why Samantha is trapped in a time-loop and it is a bit laughable. However, when she talks with Juliet, it is more explained and deserving. There are just unnecessary barriers to get to that meat of the story.
I thought Zoey Deutch gives a competently good performance as she, again, provides star power in any movie she will be like Everybody Wants Some!!. However, I felt like she was a bit older than Halston Sage, who represents an appropriately-aged high school student. Even though Sage delivers a vicious character, her performance becomes a bit over-the-top at times. The scenes between Sam and Kent, performed real well by Logan Miller, are natural and invigorating that I wished there were a few more scenes between them. There is also such distinct and quiet gravitas in Elena Kampouris' performance that you feel so bad and sympathetic for her character.
Director Ry Russo-Young's movie relies heavily on its themes and melodramatic acting within the main story that the movie depends on solid moments between certain and individual characters and also the time-loop, which does not create as much emotion in comparison to Groundhog Day, where it balances comedy, romance and a bit of drama. Plus, the movie shows you how cold a depiction of hell can be trapped in a time-loop and not expressed naturally in the character's emotional depth except in the final 20 minutes, which I thought were the best parts of the movie, where there was a hint of intelligence in the script. It is not a bad movie but I felt like if they had fixed or tighten the screenplay a few times, there would have been another solid rendition of the Groundhog Day retread. It is worthy of a rental.
**1/2
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