Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Director: Max Barbakow
Quick Impressions:
Since this has been a stressful week, I thought we were in dire need of a comedy. Palm Springs debuted this summer on Hulu, so it’s not exactly new. But I thought its Groundhog Dayesque premise seemed like a good fit for our week of endless (and usually ineffectual) browser refreshing. Plus I love Andy Samberg’s gentle goofball humor. Samberg exudes such pleasant warmth that even when his jokes don’t work, he’s still fun to be around. And he usually does succeed in making me laugh (without any mean-spirited barbs).
The Good:
Samberg is an interesting fit for this role, or maybe I mean that the role is an interesting fit for Samberg. He’s a comedian tackling a performance that lets him show more range than usual, but he does it without being in an out-and-out drama. Usually when stars known for goofy comedy give a performance that shows off their acting chops, the genre changes–dramatically. Comedians looking for recognition as actors usually choose material that is dark, intense, bleak, in some way horrendously stressful, and unpleasant to watch because they don’t think the critics will take them seriously otherwise. And they’re usually right about that. (Look at Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey. Their serious performances always come in the most stressful, dark, depressing films.) But, somewhat unusually, Samberg is giving a more serious performance than usual within the confines of a generally pleasant, gentle little comedy. (Bill Murray is pretty good at this. Steve Martin can be, too.) I hope Samberg’s excellent performance doesn’t get lost in all the laughter. Hopefully some of the people who give out awards for things realize that you don’t have to torture audiences to be giving a worthy performance.)
Samberg is giving a good performance here, one that must be tricky to get right tonally because his character is living out a bleak drama that has brought him to the point of existential crisis, but the movie is still a pleasant, good-natured comedy. With few exceptions, it is not unpleasant for the viewer to experience at all. But the three characters we follow most closely are essentially undergoing psychological torture for most of the film’s runtime.
I’m not familiar with the other work of writer Andy Siara or director Max Barbakow, but I like what they’ve done here. Though I remember vividly when Groundhog Day came out, it has become a (musty ol’) classic, so it seems natural to put a fresh spin on a film so generally highly regarded. The best thing about Palm Springs is that it manages to remain breezily enjoyable (just silly good fun) for the audience, while allowing the characters to experience a full range of emotions, grow as people, and grapple with the meaning of existence.
Now, I keep saying it’s like Groundhog Day, but the differences far outweigh the similarities. It’s only similar in that it’s a rom-com set within a time loop of one repeating day. But while the Harold Ramis/Bill Murray classic is more like a fresh spin on “A Christmas Carol” and seems to involve purgation of the soul, this movie is more about combatting arrested development and stagnation by exercising personal agency. The moral seems to be, your life won’t change until you do something, until you take action to make it change. And you won’t do that until you’re ready, until you actually, truly want it to change. Palm Springs is a film about growing up, getting centered, and taking charge of your own life. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s character begins as an enormous jerk. But Samberg’s Nyles simply seems adrift and immature. (You know, you can’t do the same thing and expect different results. Set aside the science fiction/mystical fantasy aspect. Everybody is stuck until they move forward. But before moving forward, first you must discover what forward is for you.)
The time-loop thing is really only there to give the movie shape and make it stand out. Palm Springs is essentially no different from any other romantic comedy, except that instead of doing a bunch of stuff on random days until they take charge of their lives, the protagonists are doing a bunch of random stuff on the same day. Taking deliberate action (and first knowing the desired end) is the goal. But, of course, in another way, the goal is just to make the audience think a little and laugh a lot. This is primarily a comedy, a movie meant to be enjoyed.
Samberg is joined by a whole array of delightful co-stars. I always think of Cristin Milioti as the mother from How I Met Your Mother. It’s almost satisfying to see her in a Groundhog Day style rom-com. I think she’s owed some extra days given how quickly they killed her off on that show. She’s quite funny and also gets to tackle some of the movie’s most dramatic moments. She and Samberg pair well. They have good chemistry and their comedic timing is in sync, too.
I kept trying to place Meredith Hagner (Nyles’s awful girlfriend Misty). She looked so familiar. I finally discovered after the movie that she’s Aunt Merilee in Brightburn. (I also thinks she looks vaguely like Goldie Hawn at moments, which is funny because she’s married to Wyatt Russell.) She’s very funny, too, and manages to make Misty intolerable but amusing.
I haven’t seen Peter Gallagher for quite a while. I wish he were in the movie more. June Squibb also has an incredibly brief role (and a character who really intrigued me).
And then there’s J.K. Simmons who injects such welcome energy into any movie. I didn’t even recognize him in his first scene. He certainly has a lot to do in this film!
Best Scene:
Palm Springs has some really deep moments. The time when Nyles and Sarah go joyriding, and she has a sudden accident is not one of them. But that moment, paired with her reaction in its aftermath, is my favorite part of the movie. It made me laugh.
Best Scene Visually:
Our first in-depth look at Sarah’s morning routine is a huge turning point in the story and extremely well played by Cristin Milioti.
Also, I’m not sure of any image that could convey the loneliness and resignation to despair of our current age better than floating alone in a vast swimming pool on a single slice of pizza.
I also love the implications of the stolen birthday party.
Best Action Sequence:
The bomb sequence is maybe the silliest thing that happens in the whole movie. It’s probably more enjoyable than it should be. Similarly, the confrontation with the “highway patrol” is a real turning point in the story but difficult to watch.
The Negatives:
When we started watching this movie, it began one minute into the film which puzzled us. After the movie, I learned that a few weeks ago, my mother had watched one minute of Palm Springs, immediately found it distasteful, and turned it off. I told her that I thought she would like it. She said that she did not like it. I said, “But you haven’t watched it,” and she said, “I’ve watched enough of it to know that I don’t like it.” She loves Groundhog Day, and I think she truly would enjoy the movie if she actually watched more than one minute of it, but she never will.
Other people might find the opening of the film off-putting, too. This movie doesn’t contain excessive raunchy humor, but its opening scene is kind of aurally bleak, full of the sounds of masturbation and unrelated, mundane, unromantic expletives. I think it’s a great opening, immediately giving us a glimpse of the protagonist’s state of mind. But some viewers might mistakenly believe the whole movie continues in this unpleasant way. Although this is actually a delightful comedy, the opening seems to channel the vibe of Leaving Las Vegas, so it’s possible that because this is on Hulu, some viewers might quickly get the wrong impression and turn the movie off.
I know if my mother would just watch the movie she would like it, though. I mean, it’s just like Groundhog Day!
But that’s another thing. It’s just like Groundhog Day. And that’s fine. Palm Springs is a clever riff on the time-loop rom-com, but it’s not doing anything new (other than make the love interest the co-protagonist). Groundhog Day is so often praised as brilliant because of its truly novel premise and the way it manages to be romantic, funny, sweet, cerebral, and philosophical all at once. It’s never been my favorite movie, but so many people love it. The thing is, Groundhog Day has a sort of neat brilliance, and yet it can also be fruitfully analyzed ad infinitum. Palm Springs, on the other hand, is not subgenre defining. It’s just another entry in the subgenre. On the flip side, of course, Palm Springs isn’t pretending to be any of the things that it isn’t. It’s making its own statement, and it wears its blatant similarities to Groundhog Day on its sleeve. Plus it is very funny, or at the very least, consistently pleasant, carried by Andy Samberg’s warm, lovable goofball energy.
Of course, you have to like Andy Samberg and find him charming. I do. I loved him on SNL, and we like Brooklyn Nine-Nine a lot, too, though we’re always forgetting to watch it. (This happens to us with a lot of shows. We save them to watch with our older son, but then when he’s here, there isn’t enough time to watch everything, and we get horrible backlogs on our DVR and never catch up.) Come to think of it, you know, I really liked Andy Samberg in Hotel Transylvania, too. And so many of his Lonely Island songs are both catchy and fun. I guess I just like Andy Samberg. I find him agreeably charming, and my husband and I really connect with his humor (possibly because we’re about the same age. He was born in August of 1978, seven months after my husband, and eight months before me. Recently I’ve been noticing how effortless it is to connect with the humor of people my own age). If you don’t like Andy Samberg, then I would be stunned if you like the movie. (But I mean if you actively dislike him. You could be unfamiliar with his other work and still enjoy Palm Springs.)
The other thing I find slightly less than satisfying is the way the movie introduces scientific concepts (and also ideas with science fiction potential), but then doesn’t truly explore them. The post credits scene is satisfying emotionally but also raised a lot of questions for me. Actually, multiple conversations in this movie made me curious. Palm Springs is clearly not intended to be a mind bender, but as I watched, my mind kept whispering to me, “I want to be bent, though.”
Overall:
What makes Palm Springs good is that it’s actually enjoyable to watch. It is similar to Groundhog Day (though the protagonist’s love interest is a true co-protagonist here). And, though the film has a philosophical bent, it’s really best enjoyed as an uncomplicated comedy that contains a romance. If you like Andy Samberg, you should enjoy Palm Springs. It’s streaming on Hulu now.