“Palm Springs” Movie Review by Josh Davis : Pop Culture Leftovers

“Palm Springs” Movie Review by Josh Davis

July 26, 2020 3:01 pm |

“Palm Springs,” a new romantic comedy distributed by Hulu and starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, puts a fresh spin on the concept of time loops.

Basically, it’s “Groundhog Day.” But, like “Happy Death Day” in 2017, there’s enough freshness of concept thanks to the filmmakers (first-time director Max Barbakow and writer Andy Siara) and the chemistry between the stars.

Nyles (Andy Samberg) finds himself stuck in an endless time loop on the day of a friend’s wedding. Actually, his girlfriend is a member of the wedding party, but he doesn’t appear to know anyone else there.

In repeating the days, Nyles learns his girlfriend has been cheating on him and becomes disillusioned. One night, he meets the sister of the bride, Sarah (Milioti), who is an equally disillusioned young woman, and they drunkenly bond, eventually ending up making out in the desert.

However, when a mysterious figure shows up in camouflage and shoots Nyles with an arrow, Nyles runs off and Sarah chases after him toward a mysterious cave, and she too becomes trapped in the time loop.

Initially, she’s pretty pissed off and angrily confronts Nyles. Later, she thinks perhaps the time loop is some kind of karmic balancing act and she must do a good deed to escape it. When that fails, all bets are off and wackiness ensues.

Nyles and Sarah spend the days going on random adventures and playing with the fact that 1.) they seemingly can’t die and 2.) there literally is no tomorrow. They drink, slack off, do mushrooms in the desert, learn to fly an airplane, shoot rocket launchers, choreograph a dance for no reason in a local dive bar, and generally have a lot of fun with the concept.

The two leads are (mostly) lovable louts and they work well off of each other, and there are a ton of laughs to be had with the concept.

There’s a great bit early on when Sarah asks Nyles if he’s had sex during his time in the loop. He has — with his girlfriend, a bartender, an older woman at the aforementioned dive bar and, at least once, with another man.

Things also occasionally get surreal and, at one point — for reasons unexplained — there are dinosaurs.

However, as always, there’s a catch: Sarah eventually finds out that Nyles lied to her when she first asked if they had ever slept together. They had — many times — but he wasn’t honest about it.

At the same time, Sarah hasn’t been honest about something: she slept with her sister’s fiancé and now finds herself waking up in the aftermath over, and over, and over again. And her guilt is excruciating.

We also learn that the mysterious hunter (played by a deliciously devilish J.K. Simmons) is actually another party guest who was trapped in the loop after a drug-fueled night of partying with Nyles. As a sort of revenge, every now and then Roy hunts and kills Nyles, for getting him trapped in this mess.

There are a few other twists along the way, and the ending is left purposely vague as to what ultimately happens, but it’s a satisfying conclusion.

The movie also plays fast and loose with whatever phenomenon created the time loop. At one point Nyles, in perhaps a bit of meta commentary, says, while holding up half of a candy bar, “Think of it like this: everything in this void, the space where the candy bar once was but is now in my stomach, is the past. And everything that’s remaining is the future encased in chocolate.

“I have no interest in this emptiness — you know, the who, what, why if your past. You got here, that’s all that matters,” he adds, gesturing toward the lost bit of candy bar.

At just under 90 minutes, “Palm Springs” is a fun, funny, breezy ride. It’s clever, zany, occasionally poignant, and honestly one of the best comedies of 2020. In a year desperate for and largely devoid of fun, it’s a welcome romp.

PCL Rating: Tupperware

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅