Mean Girls meets Groundhog Day in Happy Death Day. Happy Death Day follows a selfish college student, Tree Gelbman, played by Jessica Rothe, as she is caught in a loop of reliving her birthday over again only to be killed every time. Tree learns more about herself as she tries to figure out who her murderer is. Though the movie might seem like a cheap slasher flick, it turns out to have comedic and heartfelt elements.

The movie starts with Tree waking up in a dorm room with a guy named Carter, played by Israel Broussard, after a night of drinking. She goes through her day like she normally would, only to be killed that night. Tree ends up losing her mind after the first three days and that is the end of act one. The second act of the film shows Tree trying to figure out who her murderer is. This is where the movie tries to be comedic, but comes off corny. The third act shows the heartfelt change in Tree’s character and has an interesting twist that leaves the audience in shock.

Despite not having many big names in the movie, the actors cast did an exceptional job in their performances. The main standout was Jessica Rhothe as she performs her narcissistic character perfectly. Another standout was Israel Broussard, as Carter. Carter is a normal guy who gets wrapped up trying to help Tree with her dilemma and his generous attitude is portrayed by Broussard amazingly.

Happy Death Day is enjoyable, but the concept of the movie is cliché. It is similar to Groundhog Day and other movies with the same style, having the same character live the same day over again. Also, for a slasher, the movie lacked blood and relied too much on jump scares.

Overall the movie is entertaining, but no classic by any means. It lacks in originality, but makes up in acting and story. It is not the slasher film that audiences were expecting, but it did deliver a horror story that audiences can get into. Happy Death Day is rated PG-13 for violence, terror, crude sexual content, language, some drug material, and partial nudity.