Fall Back Down is a rom-com about a depressed ex-activist Nick (Andrew Dunbar), who – after saying goodbye to girlfriend Lizze (Jacky Lai) as she takes a trip to Nigeria for a year, ends up working in a sweatshop where he meets Reena (Aadila Dosani). One day whilst at work, they make a grim discovery. 

I honestly didn’t get this film. It felt like it took me twice as long to get through it simply because I was bored and became distracted. I’m glad I made it to the end however, as it did improve over time.  This improvement was thanks to the surprising turn of events which make the film, at the end anyway, feel slightly warmer and cosier. 

The first hour was extraordinarily weird and mundane. It was confusing, slow paced  and bland. The acting was average, with the better performance given by Dosani who plays Nick’s co-worker and (spoiler and shock alert), new love interest. I certainly didn’t see that coming… 

There were some aspects where I found myself laughing and smiling, but unfortunately these were not enough to make me say I like the film. I wished so much for this to be a film for me, to cause non-stop belly laughs and to be able to recommend it to all my friends. But alas, this is not that film. I barely got through it myself, so how would I expect others to do the same? 

Fall Back Down

What confused me as the film went on, was why half of it featured heavily on the storyline of Nick’s sister Althea (Dinah Lafleche). While she was decent to watch and had a good story to tell, it felt like it didn’t fit alongside Nick’s. It would’ve made for a good footnote, asterix or hyphen – but to take up at least half of the film was a bit of a shame.  It seemed pointless and irrelevant, it just felt like watching two separate films. 

I did enjoy the surprising twists, turns and shocks at the end and how it all came together nicely, although very unrealistic and at times cringe-induced. I appreciated how writer and director Sarah Beth Edwards brought the youth of millennials to life and to see how certain aspects of their culture come alive with individuality and specificity. The uniqueness of the characters and the way they look, for example, is something worth watching and applauding, however, the film as a whole is definitely not my cup of tea… which is a shame.