This feels familiar
Where have we seen this before? There’s all the time in the world to figure that out — but you’ll be laughing too hard to truly care
IN the Hulu comedy “Palm Springs,” Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti do the time warp again. And again. And again. And again. And . . .
Not the “Rocky Horror” line dance, although there is some dancing; their characters, Nyles (Samberg) and Sarah (Milioti), are stuck in the unenviable sci-fi scenario of repeating the same day over and over.
I know what you’re thinking — that these punks are mocking Punxsutawney Phil and Bill Murray — and we’ll get to that, woodchuck-chuckers.
Sarah, a constant screw-up, meets laid-back Nyles at her little sister’s California wedding ceremony and ends up scurrying away with him to a sandy nook for some nookie. The lush follows the smooth-talker, against his wishes, into a cave emanating a bright orange light, and then wakes up back in bed . . . on her sister’s wedding day. Again.
Yes, the poor man and woman are doomed to forever endure what is, for many, one of life’s most hellish punishments: another couple’s nuptials.
“What did you do to me?!” Sarah screams at the Hawaiian shirt-clad Nyles, who’s lounging on a pizza float in the hotel pool. The time-loop vet explains that anyone who walks into the light is forced to experience the same 24 hours ad infinitum. Even death causes a reboot. Nyles has been inside so long, he can’t remember what his job was, and he optimistically thinks of his hopeless circumstance as a mischievous retirement.
I know, I know. Stop yelling. The premise is a lot like “Groundhog Day.”
True, this millennialdriven laugher would not exist had Harold Ramis’ classic not come before it, however screenwriter Andy Siara’s zany script is refreshingly absent of its hard moral shell and Scroogey turnaround. Nobody sucks, and it’s about quantum physics rather than godly intervention.
“Palm Springs” — streaming Friday on Hulu — also answers the all-important question, “What would happen if Andy Samberg was trapped at a wedding for all eternity?” Man up, is what.
During the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star’s days on “Saturday Night Live,” Samberg, 41, was a Peter Pan with a pot dealer — talented but overblown and especially known for satiric music videos. Back then, you could only take his juvenile antics for a few minutes. Today, however, he’s perfect for this lovable indie, having relaxed and grown into an appealing lead.
He sure sparks with the subdued Milioti, 34, who brings approachable darkness to the unreliable, emotionally bereft woman who drinks like a beluga. Her character’s resolution is too tidy — a science-fiction version of an old-school sports montage — but it fits in fine with director Max Barbakow’s silly style.
Perhaps the sharpest casting is J.K. Simmons as a gruff wedding guest named Roy, who got trapped in the time-loop earlier after a misguided cocaine binge with Nyles. He pops up occasionally to hunt Nyles with a bow and arrow or a shotgun to seek revenge. You will cherish the 65year-old Oscar winner’s interpretation of being high on coke.
“Palm Springs,” which premiered at Sundance this year, was the highest seller in the film festival’s history at $17.5 million. It’s easy to see why Hulu and Neon dropped all that cash on it. This is the stuff of streams.