It’s time to relive Groundhog Day, but in the Californian sun
Palm Springs 15 cert, 90 min
★★★★☆
Dir Max Barbakow Starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, JK Simmons, Peter Gallagher, Meredith Hagner, Tyler Hoechlin, Camila Mendes, June Squibb
Nyles (Andy Samberg) is the guy who’s seen it all before. To the other guests at Tala and Abe’s wedding in the Californian desert resort town of Palm Springs, his attitude seems like the standard “jaded thirtysomething” temperament. The thing is, Nyles actually has borne witness to everything this celebration has to offer, many thousands of times.
Like Bill Murray on a cold February morning in Punxsutawney almost 30 years before him, Nyles has become caught in what he nonchalantly describes to the chief bridesmaid, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), as “one of those infinite time-loop situations you might have heard about” – in short, whatever he says or does and wherever he ends up, he’ll reawaken on the morning of the ceremony, with the whole day reset to its factory state. Tautologically put, it’s Groundhog Day all over again, and Nyles has long made peace with his fate – or rather, lack thereof. As with any time-loop comedy, comparisons to Groundhog Day are unavoidable here, if only because it’s hard to imagine this premise ever being more successfully mined for hilarity and existential savour than it was by Murray, Harold Ramis and co in 1993.
But rather than embracing or downplaying the resemblance, Palm Springs goes back to first principles. Director Max Barbakow and writer Andy Siara have clearly asked themselves a fruitful question: if the personification of being stuck in a rut a generation ago was a jaded, unmarried fortysomething weatherman on regional television, who would it be in 2021? In Nyles – and also Sarah, whom the loop also ensnares in the film’s opening scenes – they have come up with a highly plausible pair of answers.
The plot proceeds much as you might expect, with the repeating wedding – between Sarah’s kindhearted sister (Camila Mendes) and her smoothie fiancé (Tyler Hoechlin) – becoming a kind of playground version of life, in which Nyles and Sarah can mess around without consequence. Sometimes they make an effort, behave as their “best selves” around the supporting characters, and things run a little more smoothly or romantically than they otherwise may have. Sometimes the two fall prey to baser urges, and upset and mischief variously ensue. Sometimes they ditch the wedding entirely – perhaps to drink in a nearby dive bar, or float aimlessly in the pool of a local bungalow whose owners aren’t around. Every so often, they have to evade a murderous (and hilarious) JK Simmons, though explaining why would probably qualify as a spoiler.
But throughout it all, the quietly horrifying point is this: whatever they choose, they always end up back at square one, watching their peers pair up, settle down and head off to the future, while they remain footloose, fancy-free and trapped.
Via breezy metaphysical farce, Palm Springs identifies this very recognisable strain of millennial malaise, before skewering it with merciless accuracy. Unlike Murray in Groundhog Day, neither of these two have even managed to find a rut to get stuck in: instead, they’re apparently destined to be eternal onlookers, trading wry observations on life’s sidelines while the bartender refills their glasses. Yet thanks to astute casting and two well-pitched performances, it’s a pleasure to be killing time with them.
Part-comedy, part-cautionary fable, Palm Springs lands its big ideas as lightly as its punchlines. Purgatory was never meant to be this much fun.
It’s a breezy farce that identifies a strain of millennial malaise then mercilessly skewers it
On Amazon Prime Video from today