First off, I would like to start out by saying that, Andy Samberg is a leading man, and we must treat him as such. Coming back to the big-screen after many years away, Andy Samberg delights as Nyles, the perpetually bored and frat-boy boyfriend who ends up crashing his friend’s wedding toast dressed in a tropical shirt, holding a beer can. The weird part? He does it every day.
Lost in the desert of Palm Springs, we find that Nyles has been stuck in a time-suck multi-verse that has him living the same day over and over again. No matter what he does, no matter where he goes, he will always wake up on the morning of his friend’s wedding in Palm Springs. At one of the ceremonies, Nyles meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti) and after she follows him into the cave responsible for the paranormal activity, she follows him down the same path of repeating the same day. There really is no explanation as to why or how - but we are meant to leave that alone. What we do know is that it's suspected that Nyles has been stuck for years and after many attempts to get out of the time suck, Nyles has given up, content with the constant loop. However, as Sarah becomes entwined, she begins plotting an escape.
The film makes no sense, but although it may seem repetitive, like literally, the film doesn’t seem boring. Each day, although being re-lived, is told from a different perspective and different adventure. After each attempt that they make to exit this paranormal cycle, all attempts fail. And then what else to do but fall in love? (Sigh).
The film exposes the most common tropes of movies that re-live the same day over and over again – think Groundhog Day – but adds more twists and inexplainable moments of science. If you are looking for a feel good rom-com, invest here. If you are looking to engage in a film and understand the plot. Skip it.
Palm Springs, as you may remember, debuted at Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and was sold for the highest price a film has ever been bought at the Festival, a whopping $17,500,000.69. That’s right – the $0.69 is a personal touch from Andy Samberg and those cents is what pushed the film over the top to be the most expensive film ever bought by a studio at Sundance. Palm Springs is premiering on Hulu and was acquired with the assistance of NEON.
Check out Palm Springs and let me know if its worth the hype!
7/10.
And that’s the sitch.
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