Movie Review
By: Tucker Gibbs
I only had to say two words to convince my dorm mates to watch Palm Springs over the weekend: Andy Samberg.
In the movie, the Brooklyn-99 co-star played Nyles, a thirty-something man trying to find his place in the world to perfection. Almost effortlessly, he makes witty jokes about his predicaments while tenderly falling in love with his co-star Cristin Milioti, who plays Sarah.
Much of the film is devoted to their blossoming friendship and romance, as well as Sarah’s struggle to find her place in her family.
The movie begins with a wedding ceremony, one of many that appear throughout the movie. Sarah, a reluctant maid of honor, is dramatically saved from an embarrassing forced speech by none other than Nyles, dressed in a trademark Hawaiian shirt that keeps its presence on screen for the rest of the film.
While they hadn’t met before, things quickly get spicy between the two until Nyles finds a red glowing cave that remains shrouded in mystery throughout the movie. Shouting at Sarah, “don’t come in here,” he goes inside, seemingly disappearing. Sarah, worried about her newfound friend and lover, follows Nyles into the cave anyways. Though she didn’t know it at the time, she had joined Nyles in an “infinite time loop,” à la Groundhog Day.
When the day resets and Sarah wakes up again in the same place as the previous day, she is understandably confused and outraged at Nyles, who brought her into this situation. In what Nyles describes as “the phases,” Sarah attempts to get out of the time loop through various means, all of which fail until she begins to accept her fate: being stuck with Nyles in a never ending day.
The screenwriting, when combined with Samberg and Milioti’s masterful performances, effectively tells a story of pain, friendship and love; two people re-living the same day with charm, humor, and both ups and downs.
The characters each have their own arc in which they discover a new way forward— if they ever get out of the loop. We don’t see much of Nyles’ past life, but Sarah had been the outcast of her family, someone generally alone in the world. That all changes when she realizes she’s stuck in time, and decides to live her best, carefree life with Nyles.
The cinematography in Palm Springs supports this theme of letting go and living it up: we get excellent montages, costuming, and settings that range from a biker bar to a swanky resort.
Close-up shots in confined spaces and dramatic cuts all further the story and keep watchers engaged. In an age where I’m usually tempted to pull out my phone during a movie, Palm Springs never had a dull moment in its 90-minutes journey.
I would highly recommend Palm Springs to anyone looking for a good, quick comedy— as long as you don’t mind unrealistic physics in the name of entertainment.