‘Palm Springs’ is the Perfect Movie for the Summer of 2020
I feel like romantic comedies are like horror movies in a lot of ways. A lot of them are cheap schlock that is saturated with stereotypes/tropes and are only around to make a quick buck. But when a smartly written one attempts more than just the basic genre formula, it is often widely celebrated. Palm Springs is that smartly written rom-com that is going for more than just a short-term monetary intake on a small budget. It seems that the buzz-phrase surrounding this movie is “a new take on the genre,” and yeah, I guess in the long and short of it, Palm Springs is a fresh new take on the romantic comedy. However, I think there’s much more to talk about with the film than just saying it’s an ‘old story with new ideas.’ So let’s get into it.
Speaking about the movie in spoiler-free terms, I can say that a few things stood out as being great. First of all, most of the acting is solid throughout the film. Cristin Milioti does an excellent job of making the subtly nuanced Sarah feel like a real person who has some very interesting developments throughout the movie. Her clear imperfections and periodic irrational behavior make Sarah more true to life than the average rom-com love interest who seems to go through the movie without a single misstep. Andy Samberg does a good job as well as Nyles who turns out to be a surprisingly well written and deep character the more I thought about it. While Samberg isn’t a great actor, he pulls off the character well enough and just about nails all of his comedic moments. This brings us to the comedy of the movie which I will also say is pretty great. There’s not too much to say about it other than it’s not over the top and most of it worked well thanks to Samberg and Milioti. Also, J.K. Simmons is hilarious and awesome, but we already knew that. The big, overarching takeaway from Palm Springs is that it’s just written very well. The setup is interesting, the characters are compelling and round out the world nicely, the jokes are funny, and the pacing is excellent.
While the movie isn’t outright problematic in terms of diversity, the cast is pretty overwhelmingly white which is somewhat disappointing. There is a small handful of minority characters, but none of them get that much screen time overall. At the very least they avoided becoming token characters but that’s just because they weren’t even in the movie. Chris Pang, who plays the cheating Aussie cowboy Trevor, is pretty hilarious in the few scenes that he’s in and makes for some genuinely funny character moments. Again, Cristin Milioti is great as Sarah and the movie does do a good job of making sure she’s not just the female love interest that is only there for the man to obsess over. Overall, however, the diversity is pretty lacking when it very easily could have been avoided.
From here on out we’re talking straight SPOILERS so consider yourself warned!
If you’ve read anything about this movie, you probably already know about the whole time loop thing. Yes, I suppose this is this generations Groundhog Day, which is another thing that everyone seems to say about Palm Springs as if each generation has their own time looping love story. The movie centers around Nyles who is stuck living the same day over and over after wandering into some sort of interdimensional portal in the desert. He accidentally brings a girl named Sarah into the portal one night and she becomes trapped in the loop as well, leading to their relationship developing throughout the film. What I like about this take on a time loop are the emotional implications that are explored through different characters. Some characters like Roy are angry that they’re forever stuck reliving the same day, unable to see their kids grow up or their lives move forward. Some try desperately to escape and some are simply complacent. Roy himself takes out his anger by torturing Nyles (who brought him into the time loop) any chance he gets. Nyles has fully accepted his looping life, choosing to completely detach from the existential and emotional repercussions of living the same day over and over while Sarah tries whatever she can to get back to normal life. I really appreciate how the writers have clearly thought about what different people’s reactions would be to getting stuck on the same day and basically becoming immortal.
How the characters respond to their new life in the strange purgatory of the film is fun to watch but also works on a deeper figurative level. While Palm Springs was made before the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s timing could not be better, releasing in a moment that feels like a never-ending time loop for many, as we relive the same anxious and dull days ad nauseam. The way the characters deal with the time loop now has two deeper implications on top of the already entertaining surface level one. How they handle their circumstances not only reflects how many feel during the pandemic, it also reflects how people handle their problems in general, choosing to ignore them, run from them, or attack them. All of these are ways people deal with conflicts in general, especially when it comes to relationships, which is where the romantic side of the film comes into play. But in an even broader light, the characters of Palm Springs represent how we all deal with living at a time that makes less and less sense by the day.
The explosive ending that sees Nyles and Sarah ending up together only shows that our existential confusions can be somewhat remedied with the love from those around us; in a world where nothing seems to matter anymore, the only thing we can really do is find people to help us get through the crisis of existence.
