Palm Springs
Imagine living the same day and being stuck in an endless loop for an undetermined amount of time, couldn’t be me — oh wait.
I was planning to give a completely spoiler-free synopsis to open this up for those who haven’t seen Palm Springs yet, but the twist comes less than a minute into the trailer, so forget that plan. A time loop! How exciting! I love watching people live the same day over and over again with slight variations and seemingly no way out of their purgatory. Not at all relatable over the last eight months.
When Palm Springs broke the record for the largest acquisition at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, the United States, and much of the world, lived life normally. No one could envision what was to come and what that would mean for the movie business. When Neon, the distributor that acquired Palm Springs, made the acquisition, they obviously expected a theater run before ending up on Hulu whenever that came to an end. However, the world being what it was when Palm Springs came out on July 10th may have actually been a positive for it. It took a financial hit, but the idea of living the same day on repeat resonated so much more than it would have because of everything going on in the outside world. July was early enough in the pandemic where many people were home, and before nearly half the country somehow made wearing masks, showing compassion, and protecting others a political issue — the absolute dumbest country in the world. It came out at a point where so many more people were home, so a lot of people saw it and connected with it more than Neon could’ve imagined.
Palm Springs is far from the first movie to do some variation of the time loop idea. Groundhog Day is probably the most popular and seen as the origin for most people, but there were a handful of time loop movies before that. It actually worked out well that as I finished my Frances Ha newsletter and decided on Palm Springs as my movie for this week, I put on Before I Fall because I like Zoey Deutch, and I wanted to watch something as I attempt 366 films this year. I had no idea that it was a time loop movie before starting it. Different vibes, but it turned into a good movie. Happy Death Day was one of the best movies I watched this year and perfectly pulled off the time loop. I’m going to write more about the Happy Death Day franchise more in-depth in the future, so I won’t go too deep right now. Countless movies use this concept, from Source Code to Edge of Tomorrow and so many more. I am also counting 50 First Dates, even though it isn’t technically a time loop and doesn’t follow the person experiencing the same day over and over.
We should probably get into what Palm Springs is actually about. Nyles, played by Andy Samberg, is at a wedding with his girlfriend, who we quickly learn is cheating on him. He hangs out with the sister of the bride, Sarah, played by Cristin Milioti. Things quickly go awry when Nyles is shot with arrows by Roy, played by J.K Simmons. Sarah follows Nyles into a cave after he explicitly told her not to. The next morning Sarah wakes up to relive the same day she just lived. We quickly learn about the time loop scenario they are in. Roy is also in the time loop, but he lives in Irvine, so he doesn’t show up at the wedding all that often. Sarah tries different ways of breaking the loop, from dying to trying a selfless act. She eventually gives up on breaking the loop, and instead, Nyles and Sarah make the most out of each day.
Their relationship grows with each day, and the two eventually sleep together. The next morning we get an extended look at what Sarah wakes up to each morning, and it is her sister’s fiance telling her to leave after the two slept together the previous night. Sarah is feeling off the next day, and she decides she needs to solve this and leaves for an extended period. Nyles gets more and more depressed each day while Sarah is trying to solve how to get out of the loop. Sarah eventually comes back with her plan to get out of the loop, which Nyles initially declines. After some soul searching, Nyles chases down Sarah to be with her and get out of the loop. Nyles delivers a classic “end of rom-com” speech, and the two appear in a nearby swimming pool whose residents are out of town on the day of the wedding. They yell at them for being in the pool, confirming it is November 10th, and the credits roll to the tune of “When The Morning Comes” by Hall & Oates. We get an after credit scene confirming Nyles and Sarah made it out, and Roy now knows how and will soon escape.
Now that the explanation is complete, we can get into the fun stuff. The first question I had when watching this was what would I do if I was in the loop for an extended time? We’re going to assume that this is in a pre or post-covid world because the alternative isn’t as fun. It is important to remember that you literally cannot die. Your actions don’t really have consequences for those outside the loop. My first instinct is to go to every single sports event happening that day. Go to a basketball game in Los Angeles one day, a football game in Texas the next day, and a baseball game in New York. Depending on the time of year, this would get me through a few months potentially. I’d do the same with concerts.
Nyles and Sarah offer up some good options as well. Stealing a plane is an appealing option. Causing a raucous at a bar with a random dance battle looks like a fun time. The bomb in the cake scene is legendary, and you could pull off literally countless scenarios like that. I would travel a lot because money doesn’t matter. Put it all on the credit card; life is meaningless in this case, who cares? — I can see how they became so nihilistic after being stuck in it for a while. Especially before Sarah came, I can see how bad it would be for Nyles. No chance to ever make a meaningful connection, and nothing you do matters. A very dark premise that could have been a very different movie if they wanted to make that. On the plus side, you could watch a lot of movies and get a lot of reading done, so there’s a trade-off.
Palm Springs is such a significant departure from much of Andy Samberg’s previous work. The Saturday Night Live alum has had success on TV with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but his movie career has been a bit shakier since he left SNL. He has had three distinct lanes on the big screen since leaving SNL, so we’re not counting the masterpiece that is Hot Rod in here; small cameos in middling comedies like The To-Do List and Neighbors. HBO satire documentaries on something sports specific like 7 Days in Hell and Tour De Pharmacy, and Lonely Island productions that feel like an extended bit on SNL like That’s My Boy, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience. All of those movies fall somewhere on the spectrum of very bad — sorry That’s My Boy, to “yeah that was an entertaining time, but I don’t have any desire to watch it again.”
That underwhelming history is why Palm Springs was such a pleasant surprise. Yes, it had some of the dumb humor that The Lonely Island is known for, but I think it went a lot deeper than most Samberg projects. You don’t get that many “life is meaningless” lines in Hotel Transylvania 3. The fact that Samberg is getting any best actor Oscar buzz, even if it is just from myself and a handful of other people, is remarkable. The Oscars have nothing to lose by nominating him. 2020 has been the weirdest and worst year for movies in a long time, and ratings will likely be at an all-time low for the ceremony in April. Nominate someone from a fun movie that a lot of people watched and related to, even if it is just to improve ratings. Other than Gary Oldman from Mank and Chadwick Boseman from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, I don’t think anyone else is a lock at this point. Just nominate Andy Samberg; it would be fun. Nominate Steven Yeun for Minari, too, because it has been 93 years, and the Academy has never nominated an Asian American for best actor.
While on the subject of stunning acting performances, my apologies to Cristin Milioti for underestimating her. I only knew her as the mother from How I Met Your Mother — sorry about that spoiler six years later. She was delightful and played the role of Sarah perfectly. If we are 100% honest, she probably deserves an Oscar nomination more than Samberg does. Her character showed more depth, and she was arguably the best part of the movie. It is challenging because people who didn’t watch Palm Springs still could know who Andy Samberg is, and it isn’t quite like that for Milioti. I don’t care, nominate her too. All the awards are made up and don’t matter. Make it fun. Give me Milioti and Zendaya. Please, and thank you.
Speaking of Zendaya, on December 8th, I am going to dive into season one of Euphoria — available on HBO, and another Sam Levinson project, Assassination Nation — now streaming on Hulu, to celebrate the special Euphoria episode HBO is dropping on December 6th. It might be wise to start that sooner than later, to give yourself some time to be ready for that newsletter.
Next week, on December 1st, I am going to look at Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It is available to watch on Netflix.