ST. LOUIS — Nyles (Andy Samberg) is one of those offbeat comic reliefs that every wedding needs. He snaps open beers right before vows, but gives a great out-of-nowhere speech. He's a ladies man, but also a respectful gentleman. Quietly obnoxious and increasingly careless, Nyles is the kind of guy that every male thinks about being before deciding on something much safer.
Sarah (Cristin Milioti) isn't just a misguided young woman; she's the black sheep of her family. Her stepmother doesn't trust her with a bottle of red at a public event, but her father (Peter Gallagher) still dotes on her. She has ambition, but it's tied up in traffic at the moment. You wouldn't quickly apply the "damaged" label to her, but you'd think about it. Still, she seems more real and honest than anyone else at her sister's (Camila Mendes) wedding to Abe (Tyler Hoechlin, all grown up from "Road to Perdition").
Two hopeless wanderers looking for something at a wedding that seems more binary true-love made.
These particular nuptials lie at the center of Max Barbakow's new comedy, "Palm Springs." This just-shy-of 90 minute film is self-aware and provides just the right amount of comfort along with a fair dose of laughs and humility. It's not heart heavy, but it's far from too light. A healthy plot hook helps with that, with Andy Siara's screenplay spinning a decent curve on a classic movie device.
After Nyles finally melts Sarah's defense, the two end up making out in the desert before an unfortunate flies into his shoulder and a luminous light lurks from a nearby cave. Before the movie is 20 minutes old, Sarah is following a wounded Nyles into that cave, where they are sucked into a quantum realm of sorts that restarts their day. They wake up and it's November 9, the big wedding day all over again.
If you are thinking about rolling your eyes, table that idea and understand the filmmakers and actors are all gleefully in on the joke, which gives "Palm Springs" just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek whimsical charm.
Siara's script offers a fresh take on the time loop movie genre. You see, in "Groundhog Dog," Bill Murray was all by himself in the repeat process. The same went for Tom Cruise in Doug Liman's "The Edge of Tomorrow." Here, Nyles informs that he's re-lived this day so much that his previous life and experiences are now extremely fuzzy. What's not fuzzy are his memories of the arrow-shooting Roy (a wonderful J.K. Simmons), another wedding guest who got trapped in the loop due to Nyles' thoughtlessness.
In this tale, you have three people trapped in this loop, and possibly more. Two of them are thinking about being a couple and one is a mystery to us until late in the film. This concept supplies a heartfelt and thought-provoking touch to the time loop genre. Siara doesn't reveal the whole deck until Nyles and Sarah have bonded over crashing airplanes, performing dance numbers in bars, and hanging out at a nearby home and pool surrounded by pure desert. There's a few good surprises up this breezy yet assured comedy.
Palm Springs, the location plays a fine supporting role here, encasing the characters in this intoxicating-looking yet potentially hazardous oasis. Santa Clarita is a place that looks too perfect to be true, somewhere vivid strangeness exists in heavy amounts. The production design never allows your mind to drift from the idea that this is a surreal world and absolutely gorgeous but one you can't trust. This is the movie where a guy floats around a pool on a raft that looks like a slice of pizza, attempting to say meaningful things. Conversations are rehearsed at this point for Nyles, so he finds inventive new ways to make every day count. Cutting in on the first dance was one of them.
Sarah's arrival shakes everything up, including Nyles' philosophy about life-one that wasn't completely formed by his current dilemma. He's a classic slacker who is smarter than he looks, but there's treatment of each wedding night as if it's a multiple choice adventure test. Sarah may be aloof, but she's very self-aware-like the movie.
Here's the thing. This is the best Samberg has ever been. "Hot Rod" was nice fun, but this is the best usage of his comedic gifts. There's no doubt that Nyles belongs to him once he's met on screen, dancing and living as if there's always a tomorrow. Samberg quickly asserts himself here, helping set the pace for the film and giving it energy.
Milioti had a small role in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" among other credits, but this is a role that feels as if it was written exactly for her. I didn't honestly know much about her going in, but now I am looking for more. With a piercing stare and a disarming wit, she steals scenes here with a reckless attention to detail. It's like Sarah Silverman's feisty younger sister came along looking like Alison Brie, and morphed into a dual threat like Drew Barrymore. It's a star-making type performance that gives the film its rugged heart. You believe in Sarah, which gives you hope for Nyles, and the rest of the film operates from that sense of trust.
I've watched "Palm Springs" three times and I can tell you it's the best comedy in years. I laughed out loud many times during each viewing, yet found myself attached at the heart to the story. This one sneaks up and floors you right when you least expect it. The shiny veneer of a time loop setup and Samberg give you the outlook of a dim yet watchable streaming movie, but then the film's screenplay works so efficiently and the director allows the actors to stretch the words and their meanings out-so the film spins flawlessly.
There's nothing substantial here. Do you learn all the in's and out's about the reasons these people are locked in this blissful purgatory? No, and that's the way it should be. Sometimes, the big explanation scene can come off as a cop-out. Something they needed to do in order to acquire authority that their story was digested. "Palm Springs" doesn't have an agenda outside of sweeping you off your feet for 90 minutes while gently placing moral dilemmas and themes of life inside your head.
Barbakow's film packs more story into its running time than most flicks do with a full two hours. "Palm Springs" never tries too hard, winning you over slowly but surely. When you have well-known talents like Samberg and Simmons and hidden gems like Milioti and June Squibb at the helm, they make familiar story hooks make a firm landing.
I bought into what the film was selling, laughing and connecting emotionally without feeling duped or bribed. Some comedies merely take your attention away for a little while; others make a dent.
"Palm Springs" packed an unique punch, inventing a time and place that isn't so easy to leave.
