Palm Springs is available to stream on Hulu.
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Ever since Groundhog Day, which one could argue instantly perfected the “time loop” genre it created, we’ve been blessed with a few awesome updates and evolutions of the concept – like the sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow and the horror comedy Happy Death Day. Rarely, though, has a Groundhog Day-style movie attempted to wander back into rom-com territory, given the large shoes it’d have to fill. But Palm Springs, starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, is a worthy and charming successor, one that raises the stakes, deepens the existential wisdom, and enhances the overall idea.
As the film opens, we’re introduced to Samberg’s Nyles, a low-key, but despondent, man who’s already stuck in a loop. In Palm Springs for a wedding, Nyles has been locked in a never-ending day cycle for a disturbing amount of time. So long that he barely remembers details from his life before the loop. A big way that Palm Springs differs from its predecessors though is that it deals with the ramifications of Nyles accidentally roping someone else into his eternity of chaos and repetition.
With a whip-smart script and courageously funny and bare performances from Samberg and Milioti, the film skips over a lot of well-worn time loop territory to give us an awkward love story about two (kind of selfish) people who wind up only having each other. The Coachella Valley locale is the perfect backdrop as Nyles and Milioti’s Sarah, the older sister of the bride, are forced to mostly reside in a place that could either be paradise, purgatory, or scorched Earth hell. At first, in disbelief, Sarah tries everything Nyles says he’s already tried to escape and when it doesn’t work they both settle into a ride or die life of consequence-free shenanigans.
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Palm Spring has dark edges and a soft underbelly. It drives home the defeatist depression of the “trapped in time” scenario while also using it to explore larger themes of kindness. While Nyles didn’t mean for Sarah to get locked into the loop (which happens thanks to a nearby cave that emits as a mysterious red glow), he is actually responsible for one other person being caught in the game: a wedding guest named Roy, played by J. K. Simmons.
Roy, understandably, is now forever angry with Nyles and has been showing up occasionally over the vast swaths of years to torture and/or kill Nyles. Roy lives out of town so it’s not an everyday occurrence, but his inclusion, and Simmons’ dependably fun presence, gives the story a bit more karmic weight. If nothing ever ends, if nothing ever moves forward, then at what point can you forgive someone else or emotionally heal? Simmons’ Roy is a nice supporting role that morphs from a recurring bit into something a lot more meaningful.
Other Palm Springs players include Riverdale’s Camila Mendes and Supergirl’s Tyler Hoechlin as the bride and groom, along with Peter Gallagher, Jacqueline Obradors, and Dummy’s Meredith Hagner. They’re all solid, though the film doesn’t have as much fun with them as it could. Because there’s an actual couple to focus on here and not just one person navigating the rules of the times-capade, there’s less room for the un-stuck characters to shine, but the story’s better for the changes (and the looming Roy of it all).
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Source: IGN.com Palm Springs Review