Palm Springs updates the time loop comedy as two wedding guests get stuck repeating the wedding day over and over again
Quick review: Palm Springs finds new life in the Groundhog Day-inspired time loop movie by bending the formula and finding both laughs and heart in a romantic comedy story anchored by great lead performance by Andy Samberg and Christin Milioti.
Where to watch Palm Springs: Streaming on Hulu.
Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.
The time loop movie has been done countless times across multiple genres whether it’s sci-fi action Edge of Tomorrow, meta-horror Happy Death Day and, of course, the pioneering Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day. It’s a genre in and of itself that seems like it couldn’t be made new again. However, director Max Barbakow finds something fresh with Palm Springs, his new sci-fi comedy produced by The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Dylan Sellers), that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival before being picked up by Neon and Hulu in a record-breaking $17 million distribution deal.
The movie opens to Nyles (Samberg) being awoken by his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner), who is a bridesmaid in Tala (Camila Mendes) and Abe’s (Tyler Hochelin) wedding. He goes through the day with an airiness that could be perceived as arrogance at first — it’s Andy Samberg after all — that is eventually explained as prescient boredom. You see, Nyles has been through this day countless times. For all he knows, it could be millions. He knows what’s going to happen — and every version of what’s going to happen.
In this iteration of the day he saves Tala’s sister Sarah (Christin Milioti) from giving an embarrassing maid of honor speech that he’s seen her give numerous times by giving a speech of his own. That leads the two to hookup in the desert. However, they’re interrupted by something I’ll save for you to see on your own leading to a chase to a cave with a mysterious orange glow.
Sarah follows Nyles into the orange glow, despite all his efforts to stop her, leading her to become stuck in the same time loop as Nyles. This is the twist that makes Palm Springs feel fresh — two time loopers! That simple choice unlocks so many wonderful narrative moments from Sarah’s anger at Nyles for getting her stuck there, Nyles having to teach Sarah the rules of the world — it helps them avoid any clunky exposition, and the exploration of a relationship between two people literally stuck together by time and space.
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And seeing the debauchery the pair gets into without fear of consequences is a blast. From doing mushrooms in the desert to staging a Die Hard-inspired scene during the wedding — complete with bad Russian accents, a bomb in the wedding cake, and a hook for a hand. However, this is a romantic comedy and spending that much time with someone, even if time isn’t moving forward, is bound to bond people together.
While Palm Springs is certainly a playful romp, it has an engrossing plot and complete character arcs that are made even more interesting by the time loop. Sarah is the black sheep of her family, a constant screw up, who commits an unforgivable screw up during the wedding. Nyles is dealing with the nihilism of someone with no future and is slowly forgetting the past. We also learn that Nyles accidentally got another wedding guest named Roy (J.K Simmons in a hilarious but poignant role) stuck in the loop too. For all its ridiculousness and trademark Lonely Island shenanigans, the movie has a strong beating heart.
Milioti, who blew me away in the stage adaptation of Once before gaining recognition as the titular “mother” in How I Met Your Mother, finally gets the leading role she deserves and takes advantage of it. Her hilarious deadpan delivery makes gets nearly every line a laugh, however, it’s her irresistible charm that makes the character great. Samberg gives without question his greatest performance to date. His signature class clown persona is there — and, as always, he puts it to good use — however, he gets to flex his more dramatic character muscles here which results in a surprisingly heart-filled performance.
As the Palm String trudges forward through multiple upbeat montages that takes time to slow down and spend real time with the characters, it’s apparent this is something special. Not only is it hilarious with rarely a minute without a joke, it never gets repetitive or boring. Which is a feat considering the entire plot is about a single day repeating over and over again. It’s not surprising this sold for such a large sum because this feels like a classic broad romantic comedy in the making.
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.