A comedy to pass the test of time
THE BIG RELEASE PALM SPRINGS 15 ★★★★✩
FEEL like you’re living in a version of Groundhog Day? Well, our hero Nyles actually is. Dragged to a wedding as the plus-one to a girlfriend he doesn’t really like, Nyles (a Golden Globe-nominated Andy Samberg) then finds himself trapped in an infinite time loop. Every morning, no matter what he tries (and he tries pretty much everything), Nyles wakes up, condemned to relive the same wedding day, in the middle of the Californian desert, again and again and again…
Slumped into numbness, Nyles is busy measuring out his life in empty beer cans until the night he hooks up with the bride’s snarky sister, Sarah (an excellent Cristin Milioti), and she stumbles into the time loop with him.
Will this meet-cute make infinity more bearable?
Revisiting the Groundhog Day concept is hardly a new idea – we’ve had Tom Cruise vehicle Edge Of Tomorrow and Netflix series Russian Doll, to name but two pretenders.
Yet Palm Springs manages to make it all feel fresh. That’s because it has a subtle new romcom angle. This isn’t ultimately so much about one person’s redemption, or even ‘how to live’ in the now (though it covers both those things), it’s about how to negotiate relationships with another complex, intelligent and flawed person. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny.
Golden Globe-nominated for Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, the script is clever and witty, the story constantly spins your expectations, the leads are charismatic and interesting, and it all comes with a complimentary side portion of perfectly choreographed physical comedy. It’s the whole package, in other words. And it co-stars JK Simmons. No wonder Palm Springs broke records at Sundance last year for the most expensive sale ever at $17,500,000.69.
Already officially one of the most streamed movies of the pandemic, it’s worth every penny
Out Friday on Amazon Prime Video