Palm Springs Synopsis: When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honor Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated as they are unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.
At her sister’s wedding, Sarah (Cristin Milioti) is bailed out from giving a maid of honor speech by Nyles, the boyfriend of one of the bridesmaids. Nyles (Andy Samberg) has no desire to be at the wedding, and the two take off to find a private place to hook up. Their intimate moment is interrupted when a man appears and begins to fire arrows at Nyles, horrifying Sarah.
She follows Nyles into a mysterious cave, ignoring him when he tells her not to come inside. The next morning she wakes up in bed and realizes it’s her sister’s wedding day again. When she finds Nyles again, he explains that the cave has sucked her into a time loop, reliving the same day over and over again with him. While Nyles is confident that there is no way to stop the time loop, Sarah is determined to break the loop and return to her life.
I knew I was in for a treat when the opening credits read “Lonely Island Classics” in the style of Sony Picture Classics. And yes, Palm Springs was an enjoyable take on the Groundhog Day trope. Poor Nyles had been stuck in a time loop for some time; the only difference was that two people were there with him.
Roy (JK Simmons, who is always marvelous), a man actively hunting Nyles for putting him in the same predicament, and Sarah herself. So, while Nyles has grown used to his repetitive life, Sarah has to go through the expected cycle of confusion, fear, anger, determination, and acceptance. And then, of course, more determination. She has her own reasons for not wanting to continually wake up in the same bed every morning and relive the same day.
Milioti and Samberg’s chemistry is what made Palm Springs so much fun to watch. Yes, it has more than enough laughs, but the heart of the film comes from watching Sarah and Nyles start to fall in love. Samberg delivers comedically, which is to be expected, but he also has a few scenes where he’s able to show his range as an actor because underneath his carefree blasé attitude is a depressed, defeated man trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Falling in love has given him something to look forward to every morning, but what would that love mean or look like if they were able to break the time loop and return to some semblance of normal? Milioti was a gem in this movie, charming and witty while equally as devastating as she comes to terms with her mistakes and insecurities.
Underneath the humor is a more profound question about living life to the fullest and being content and happy with the life you’re given. At what point do you stop and realize how good you have it in that one moment in time? What would you change, if anything? Am I reading too deeply into a rom-com produced by The Lonely Island? You betcha. But Palm Springs does a great job at peeling away those silly surface layers and giving us a rom-com with meaning, which is a rarity in this genre. This is definitely a movie I’ll watch again, and I’m hoping I see Samberg and Milioti in another film together in the future.
Watched: 07/31/2020
Notable Song: Cloudbusting by Kate Bush
