A One Mann’s Movies review of “Palm Springs” (2021).
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Nyles (Andy Samberg) is reliving the same day over and over again at a wedding in Palm Springs. Suddenly joining him in the loop is fellow wedding guest Sarah (Cristin Milioti). The no-hoper man has given up trying to find a way to break the spell. Can the more intelligent woman succeed? Or if not, can they find satisfaction and – who knows – love in the never-ending grind of eternity?
Life’s a beach… in the desert. (Source: Amazon Prime Videos).
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons
Directed by: Max Barbakow.
Written by: Andy Siara (from a story by Andy Siara and Max Barbakow).
The newly weds, Tala (Camila Mendes) and Abe (Tyler Hoechlin). (Source: Amazon Prime Videos).
Review:
Positives:
- So, it’s obviously a retread of “Groundhog Day” (so 1/5 for originality), but it has some fresh fun with the concept.
- It starts off at the “town dance” stage of G/D, where Bill Murray’s character has lived enough lives to perfect everything. This is a smart move, and allows those of the audience ‘in the know’ (which I would guess is 80%+) the joy of getting to the fun bits early.
- It also luxuriates in having two (actually, more than two) people experiencing the ‘phenomenon’. This leads to some truly hilarious scenes of Nyles and Sarah living life to the max.
- Because this dynamic duo can talk to each other, we get deeper existential discussion about the downsides of eternity and what life is all about.
- The best comedies also have some element of pathos as well, to mix the highs with some lows, and this movie does that nicely. The despair felt by Nyles at one point in the movie is heartfelt and moving.
- The element of female empowerment in here (no spoilers) is very 2020’s and entertaining.
- The mushroom-induced hallucinations (again, no spoilers) made me laugh.
- I wasn’t familiar with either Samberg (who is a regular in TVs “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) or Milioti. Samberg was fine, but came across a bit “Saturday Night Live cookie-cutter”. Milioti though is a real comedic find, nicely filling the sort of young-kooky-woman space that the younger Sarah Silverman used to do in movies. One to watch.
- Glory be: a movie that obeys my “no comedy should be longer than 90 minutes” rule!
A cross-over to a Spielberg flick, courtesy of the mushrooms. (Source: Amazon Prime Videos).
Negatives:
- The movie starts off at such a pace that the minority of the audience not familiar with the “Groundhog Day” concepts will have a “WTF” attitude and possibly turn them off during the first 20 minutes. (There is explanation, but it takes this long).
- The movie is rude. Very rude. This doesn’t bother me, but it does shift the viewing options away from the “Groundhog Day” set and more towards the “Hangover” set. This will limit the audience, so I’m not sure it was a wise move by the writers.
Living the vida loca – again, and again, and again. ( (Source: Amazon Prime Videos).
Summary Thoughts on “Palm Springs”:
Of all the films showing this week, this one seems to have the most hype through social media: “SEE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE IT” screamed the posts. And – don’t get me wrong – it’s pretty good and has more than the requisite half-dozen laugh-out-loud moments to merit being called a comedy. But – perhaps my expectations were too high – it’s no where near, in my book anyway the 5* classic that “Groundhog Day” was. Any any movie that borrows so much from the plot of that film has to be prepared to be directly compared and rated against it.
Trailer:
The trailer for “Palm Springs” is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpBLtXduh_k.
