PALM SPRINGS
Cert 15 ★★★★ On Amazon Prime Video now
“Today, tomorrow, it’s all the same,” says Andy Samberg’s Nyles while floating around a swimming pool on an inflatable slice of pizza.
Nyles’s world-weary tone isn’t a result of months of self isolation. Not only is he in the sun-drenched California resort of Palm Springs but he’s about to attend a wedding complete with real people, a fully functional bar and a non-socially distanced dance floor.
But there’s a reason why Nyles sounds like he’s seen it all before. For months, possibly years, he has been living this day over and over again.
Every morning, he wakes up to the same cheating girlfriend (Meredith Hagner), knowing he is going to hear the same awkward speeches, drink the same free booze and witness the same terrible dance moves.
Yes, it’s Groundhog Day, again. But while time-loop movies are beginning to feel a little, well, repetitive, an edgy script, an excellent cast and fortuitous timing make this an unexpected delight.
Like millions trapped (perhaps for eternity) in makeshift home offices, Nyles has begun to appreciate the vital role coincidence plays in the human experience. When he rolls up to the wedding in a Hawaiian shirt, he thinks he’s overheard every conversation and has run out of strangers to meet, shock or seduce. Then something new happens.
He falls in love.
Sarah (Cristin Milioti) is the jaded, half-cut sister of the bride. When she gets stuck in the same time loop, Nyles has a partner in crime.
Their twisted attempts to rinse new experiences out of the same day are told in hilarious Jackass-style montages. But there’s a sweetness to them, too. Despite the sci-fi trappings, Palm Springs is powered by a large serving of old-fashioned rom-com chemistry.