Last week Hulu released a sci-fi rom com to some acclaim, especially by movies that have been released straight to streaming. To give any sort of plot synopsis, it involves some level of spoiler, so just be warned, I would suggest watching it without knowing anything about it, but at this point it might not be possible. People have described this as the perfect quarantine movie because the whole premise of the movie is Nyles, Andy Samberg’s character, is stuck in a time loop living the same day over and over, or as he describes it, “Yesterday was today, today is today, and tomorrow is today.” Something that many people can say they feel like their lives have been for the past few months, but I believe that the scenarios are very different, and of course we in the real world have the much shorter end of the stick.
The biggest way that the world Nyles and Sarah, played by Cristin Milioti, who accidently joined in him the time loop, have the advantage over the repetitive pandemic world that we are living in is that they live in a world of no consequences. No matter what they decide to do, the next day when they wake up, they are back where they started the day before. They can commit crimes and get arrested, they can into bar fights and have the damage be gone the next die, and they can even die, and still wake up in the same place the next day with no consequences. Whereas it seems like the world that we live in has ever more increasing consequences for every action we take. For example just choosing to go to the grocery store now is a big decision. As people now we have to choose if we wear a mask or not, if we do not we have the potential of spreading of catching the virus that has come to control our country’s consciousness, if we choose to touch something out in public and not wash our hands after, it could lead to the same consequences. Basically decisions that used to be so small and inconsequential have become increasingly important to the point where in some instances it can literally be life or death. This is contrasted starkly with living in a repetitive loop of the same day where Nyles and Sarah are at a wedding and having a chance to celebrate, or get away from the wedding party altogether, in the movie, it becomes more clear that their situation is not as ideal as it initially seems, both Sarah and Nyles have their problems that they have to face daily, but eventually feel like they can overcome.
There are good take aways from the movie as well. They do go into the morality aspect of the fact that even though they are in a time loop and do not really have to deal with the consequences of their actions that they pain they create in real, and that includes the emotional pain and the physical pain that is caused to them and by them. Nyles has more of the understanding that the physical pain that they feel and that they cause is real, he tries to not physically hurt those around him, where as Sarah has more of the understanding that the emotional pain is real. Nyles coming to terms with the importance of the emotional pain and what pain he has caused to Sarah is the central theme of the movie and the rom com aspect to it. The best theory I have heard about this movie is that is symbolic of marriage because Nyles and Sarah are stuck in a seemingly infinite time loop where they do not age, they have to go through the struggles of keeping the relationship fresh and interesting and dealing with each other’s emotional baggage and solving the relational problems instead of letting them fester.
I feel like the worst part about being placed into a time loop situation like this is never truly knowing if it will end, because there is always the potential that it will stop and the next day you will be back into the normal flow of time, so if the before you had gone on a crime spree because you felt like it would not matter, then boom you are stuck in prison the rest of your life, which seems like it would be the worst scenario of a time loop movie. So I feel like if I was placed into a time loop I would just have so much timidity that I would do something idiotic and the next day it would end. I guess it comes down the fact that if in a time loop, the person would become numb to the risk and just start doing whatever they wanted.
Overall this movie falls into one of the best of the year, if not the best of the year, again it comes with a heavy asterisk due to the fact that so many movies that seemed like they would be great have not been released due to the closing of the theaters. I think it is better than Extraction, Netflix’s action flick that came out a few months ago, and I think it is better than Invisible Man, one of the last movies that came out into theaters before they closed, and the best movie that had been released in the theaters this year. I give Palm Springs an 85. It has plenty of good laughs. Samburg and Milioti seem to have good chemistry, and both play their roles incredibly well. Also the appearances of J.K Simmons are excellent and bring an added layer of fun to the movie. Definitely watch Palm Springs.
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