Palm Springs Movie Review

This is an article “Palm Springs” by Marc Primo

Release date: 10 July 2020 (USA)

Directors: Max Barbakow

Language: English

Production Companies: Limelight Productions, Lonely Island Classics, Sun Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment

Producers: Chris Parker, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Dylan Sellers, Becky Sloviter, Jorma Taccone

SPOILER ALERT—No other time seems more appropriate for Andy Samberg’s latest starrer Palm Springs than 2020 when it seems better to just grow with the helplessness of these challenging times. But like in the film, hope always springs eternal in terms of fate and second chances.

Taking from the formula that made 1993’s Groundhog Day a classic, and setting itself apart from recent reincarnations in Netflix’s Russian Doll, Naked, and The Day We Met, the Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island crew integrates the magic of quantum physics in this delightful comedy about getting fed up with life and not caring about anything anymore.

In Palm Springs, three individuals get caught in a loop that wakes them up to the same day. Nyles (Samberg) has been living out the same day of Sarah’s (Cristin Milioti) sister’s wedding day for as long as he can remember to the point that he had made a choreography to the day’s events like a fine Broadway number. The tiresome routine suddenly changes when Sarah gets accidentally warped into the loop trapping both of them, along with a mysterious stalker that’s out to kill Nyles into the cyclic resets. One other catch is how they can feel physical and emotional pain but can’t really die, and just wake up to the same day all over again with every fatal attempt.

The storyline remains effective throughout the film despite having to repeat most scenes to stay in tune with the plot. What makes Palm Springs even more engaging to audiences is the development of its characters with each day that time goes on repeat, and how the narrative leads them to their true characters. Soon, we find out that Nyles does have it within him to care or love something after all, Sarah has what it takes to redeem herself of all the past mistakes she has done in her life, and the mysterious stalker named Roy (J.K. Simmons) is not as sinister as he was first made out to be, but merely a family man who had turned bitter after Nyles lured him into the loop, depriving him of seeing his family’s bright future.

Banking on the strong Millennial tandem of SNL favorite Samberg and the endearing How I Met Your Mother mom Milioti, then adding in the comedy caliber of Simmons makes this Hulu original truly worth watching especially for today’s generations that are hungry for digital romcoms.

Many of the film’s details tackle social issues that today’s younger audiences are into such as hooking up, settling down, and yearning for stability. However, we still get more conventional insights from Roy’s age-old wisdom which leads Nyles to make the most important decision of his recurring life.

With plenty of laughs that’ll keep you entertained for most of the film, Palm Springs completes a perfect picture of a somewhat dystopian scenario from an individualistic POV that somewhat mirrors how we all live life today in the new normal. The slow breakdown of how life happens for Nyles and Sarah shows us that routine has its own merits, and how the pursuit to be free from the past is sometimes better with someone else’s hand holding yours.

Overall, Palm Springs doesn’t disappoint and brings to life a new kind of romcom that most of today’s audiences can truly enjoy without saying that they already know what’s coming from all of its repetitions.

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