Vpalm springs two strangers start flirting at a wedding and find themselves stuck in a time loop. This is far from the first love story to use a healthy dose of fantasy to explore the mysteries of the heart. But this shock comedy, which premieres July 10 on Hulu, is no paraphrase.groundhog day. Instead, everyone involved in the film seems to have taken a moment to consider what audiences really want from a romantic comedy in 2020. The first frame, an earthquake opening up the Californian desert, proves right at a glance thatpalm springs wants to shake up all the weary tropes of the rom-com genre.
Niles (Andy Samberg) is an eye-catching cynic who sits alone in a resort pool, drinking live beer; he didn't even bother to change into a bathing suit for the evening wedding. But he still manages to charm the bride's stern sister and maid of honor Sarah (Christine Milioti). Like Bill Murray's character from"Groundhog Day" Niles looks both over the top and self-deprecating. Sarah appreciates his lack of sentimentality: she obviously doesn't like the wedding and is wary of the groom.
The glowing portal near Niles and Sarah's first kissing session serves as a simple plot mechanism that sends this pair of pessimists into an endless replay of their wedding day. While the two aren't an obvious match at first, Samberg and Milioti offer slick performances that allow their characters' hard exteriors to gradually melt away like wedding ice sculptures under the scorching sun. The film's best moments come from the resourceful couple putting their heads together to solve their metaphysical predicaments, or simply find outrageous ways to have fun.
Niles and Sarah grapple with the pointlessness of repeating life, a particularly pertinent dilemma.
The emphasis on fast-paced (and sometimes childish) humor is a hallmark of the film's producers, a trio of goons known as The Lonely Island (purveyors of viral joke songs such as "I Just Had Sex"). Dexterous director Max Barbakov anchors the film, while Andy Ciara's ambitious screenplay ventures into darker territory as Niles and Sarah struggle to cope with the meaninglessness of a life on repeat - a particularly pertinent dilemma for those who find their current married couple stressed due to quarantine conditions.
The premise of the time loop has become a sub-genre of its own in recent years. For every prominent character such asRussian doll Netflix, there's a clunker likeLove Wedding Repeat, who covers up his addiction to clichés with timeline stunt acrobatics.palm springs does new things with the concept, reveling in Sarah and Niles' freedom from the consequences. Take, for example, when Sarah and Niles escape boredom at their wedding reception with a prank in which a bomb hits a cake. Itselfpalm springs functions like a metaphorical bomb in a wedding cake, gleefully exploding sugar-coated notions of marriage in his exploration of commitment. A smart move considering today's adult audiencewho choosecohabitation is more important than marriage - do not believe the dream of a fairytale wedding as a stepping stone to a romantic end. Instead, millennials are essentially creating for themselves the exact outlet that Sarah and Niles are missing.
So what does a romantic comedy look like for the romantically skeptical generation?palm springs attempts to answer that question, sometimes through self-aware dialogue, such as Sarah's statement to Niles that she "could just fine survive without you, you know." Other times, it's poignant scenes, such as the one where Sarah comes to Niles with a risky plan that could free them from the time loop. When he argues that they should just try to be happy while maintaining the status quo, her face falls. At this point, we're getting to the heart of what makes commitment so risky. Sarah's disappointment at this point will resonate with anyone who is concerned that being attached to the wrong person may end up completely reducing their potential.
The flip side of romance is that too many movies are tiptoeing around trying to pull our heartstrings with bold declarations of love. In this film, they are also there, but, as in the setting of the same name,palm springs offers a refreshing oasis in the desert of dried-up romantic fantasies.
