Palm Springs; Tuna Tartare in Crispy Wonton Cups
It's one of those infinite time loop situations you might have heard about.
Palm Springs (2020)
Director: Max Barbakow
Had I seen this before: Yes
Time loop variety/genre: Scientific (nature)/rom-com
I have compiled a pretty long list of time-loop related media for this project and one element that the overwhelming majority of titles have in common is that they are in the thriller/horror genre. This makes sense, obviously—being trapped in a temporal glitch would be inherently thrilling and horrifying, and solving/stopping/perpetuating a terrible crime is an obvious application of repeated attempts. But repeated attempts can also be incredibly fertile ground for comedy, as can the wild abandon that comes with realizing there are no long-term consequences for your actions. And if Groundhog Day is the undisputed GOAT in this category, I would argue that Palm Springs is its very worthy successor.
“Ever and ever, forever and ever, you’ll beeeeee the one,” croons Demis Roussous as the movie opens, the first of many charming winks to the audience about the game afoot in this film—ever and ever indeed. We open on a goat in the brushy desert, and: believe it or not, this goat will prove absolutely crucial to the plot of the film. But at the moment, all we know is that this desert goat is the lone witness to an earthquake that produces a large crack in the ground, from which a bright light emanates. We then cut to a voice whispering “wake up,” as Nyles (Andy Samberg), in bed, opens his eyes.
Nyles is awakening to the day of a wedding in the titular Palm Springs, where he is the plus-one of a bridesmaid named Misty (Meredith Hagner). Despite being his girlfriend, Misty does not seem to like him in particular. In a movie filled to the brim with funny performances, I want to shout out Hagner, who takes what could be a pretty thankless role as the person our romantic lead isn’t meant to be with and stuffs it with absolutely incredible line readings (the pitch she reaches when saying “wait whaaaat?” lives in a cozy studio apartment inside my head). Nyles seems to be stricken with significant anhedonia, as though he has reached a level of boredom with life that should have proven fatal by now, but, inexplicably, has not. Misty begs Nyles to be normal at the wedding, to which he gives the least convincing thumbs up in history.
The wedding is picture-perfect aside from Nyles, wearing a swimsuit and Hawaiian shirt and cracking a can of beer mid-ceremony, and one absolutely miserable-looking bridesmaid trying to will herself into the center of the earth from her spot next to the bride. At the reception we learn that this very unhappy woman is Sarah (Cristin Milioti), sister of the bride, who is pleading with the bartender not to be stingy with the wine pour (“It’s…not good wine,” the bartender says dispassionately, in the moment that I knew this movie was for me). When she is unexpectedly called up to give a speech, the naturally-deer-like Milioti looks very much caught in the headlights until Nyles swoops in, Hawaiian shirt and stubble intact, to rescue her by giving a slightly nonsense speech that distracts everyone from Sarah, with whom he makes intense eye contact while saying “we may be born lost, but now you are found.”
Confused but intrigued, Sarah later watches as Nyles dances his way across the reception in a manner that makes it seem like he is deeply familiar with the choreography of everyone around him. After some flirting, and some explaining from Nyles that Misty is (at that very moment) cheating on him, they make their way out into the dessert to hook up. As Nyles is beginning to disrobe, he is suddenly struck in the back with an arrow and screams (in the moment that I knew this movie was definitely for me). He is being hunted by a man in full camo, and this is obviously not their first interaction, as Nyles yells “You’re a sick fuck, Roy” while trying to escape. Badly wounded, he drags himself into a strangely-lit cave, while pleading with a completely freaked out Sarah not to follow him.
“Wake up,” whispers the voice, and of course Nyles does, and of course it is again the day of the wedding, which it has been for Nyles for countless years at this point. But now, because she ignored his pleas and followed him into the cave, Sarah has also gotten caught in the loop—and she is pissed. “I tried to stop you,” Nyles explains sadly. She tries going back to the cave, which just resets the day. She tries driving all the way home to Austin, but as soon as she falls asleep, she resets. She tries swerving into an oncoming truck, before which Nyles unbuckles his seat belt and rests his head against the dashboard (he knows that dying will just reset the loop, he tells her, but “pain is very real” and he does not enjoy dying slowly in the ICU). Naturally, they reset. One of the aspects of this movie that I appreciate as a time loop afficianado is its own awareness of all the time loops tropes that have come before, and the existence of someone many years into the loop who can encourage the newcomer through the confusing first few days, toward acceptance of the situation. It prevents tedium, and sends a gentle message to the audience: I know you’ve also seen Groundhog Day.
Once Sarah has settled in a bit, Nyles explains the Roy (J.K. Simmons) situation. One night long ago, Nyles and Roy partied hard. High as a kite in the desert, Roy exclaims that it’s the greatest night of his life and he wishes he could live out in the desert forever. Also high as a kite in the desert, Nyles foolishly interprets this as an opportunity to help his new friend Roy by showing him to the Cave of Never Leaving This Day Ever Again. Ever since, Roy has been seeking vengeance against Nyles. Fortunately, Roy wakes up every day in the reasonably nearby Irvine, so he only comes around once in a while.
Still intent on finding a solution, Sarah explores the idea that an act of selflessness may be able to free them. What if, she posits, life goes on for everyone else, but they are stuck because they have to karma their way out—have you really not thought of this before? “Yeah, no,” says a sarcastic Nyles and also a sarcastic us, “I’ve never thought about the multiverse before.” At the next version of the wedding, right before the daily earthquake, Sarah whispers something to Tala that causes a strong but nonspecific reaction, and Sarah is convinced that she has now earned her escape.
She has not. Which means she is out of ideas and it’s now time for the best part of the comedy time loop—the gleeful chaos stretch. Nyles and Sarah drink beer, drive recklessly, steal (and crash) an airplane, drink beer, execute a perfectly coordinated two-person flash mob in a dive bar, drink beer, give each other tattoos, pull elaborate wedding pranks, take shrooms and see dinosaurs in the desert, and…whoopsie! Definitely fall in love. Which would be hunky dory except we now see that due to some pre-loop poor decision-making, Sarah is waking up every morning in the groom’s bed, which explains her wedding despondence and her attempted selfless confession to her sister. It also explains her inability to accept being in the loop indefinitely and her being so wildly antsy about everything. After a big fight, during which it is revealed that Nyles lied about the two of them never having slept together before Sarah was in the loop with him, Sarah becomes steely and determined: she’s getting out.
Now I have to ask the question: Ladies, have you ever been so angry with a man you learned quantum physics? Relatable! While Nyles mopes around waiting for the absent Sarah to show back up in his life, and visiting a now-chilled-out Roy in Irvine (Roy talking about learning to appreciate the beauty of his mundane domestic existence and saying “This was always a good day here, you know?” is something I think about a lot when I need to get things in perspective—never let anyone tell you that endearing straight-to-Hulu comedies can’t improve your life), Sarah hits the books. And the YouTube lectures. And the quantum physicist FaceTime calls. And the…science equipment store? Look, I’m not personally burning with enough resentment toward Andy Samberg to propel myself to a level of complex theoretical science expertise that would enable me to understand exactly what she’s doing and why, but I can tell you with some confidence that Sarah first time loops our goat friend from the opening scene by leading it into the cave, then later rigs the goat to explode while inside the cave. For…science.
“Wake up,” the voice tells Nyles, but this time it’s Sarah, with some very good news about exploding goats. Apparently the blast, if executed in the few seconds it takes to travel the loop, can propel them out of the energy box in which they’re trapped. Nyles is scared to leave the loop for points unknown but this is a romantic comedy and that happy ending is right around the desert bush, so he eventually comes around to give a romantic speech filled with grammar jokes before he and Sarah, strapped with explosives, walk into the cave hand in hand.
Most of the films in my rotation of comfort movies are from the first couple of decades of my life, but Palm Springs managed to hit so many of my favorite notes on first viewing that it has been added to the rotation. I imagine your experience with this film will hang largely on the degree to which you find Andy Samberg charming; proceed accordingly, but also know that there are many little gems that I didn’t even touch on in my writeup, such as a possibly-looped Nana played by June Squibb and an oft-bewildered father of the bride played by Peter Gallagher’s eyebrows. At any rate, I hope the next wedding you attend is uneventful, that your local caves are temporally sound, and that we all may find our Irvine.
Time loop solution: Carefully-timed goat explosion
Did I understand/care how the loop worked: The filmmakers consulted an actual physicist about this setup and you know what, I’m going to trust that he knows what he’s talking about, so I followed it in the sense that it was a plausible scientific theory that I am not deeply familiar with / Yes, because the solution is a lot of what I like about this movie and if it was sloppier it wouldn’t hang together as well
How unpleasant would this loop be for me personally (1-10): This appears to be an absolutely beautiful day in Palm Springs at a nice resort, involving a(n optional) well-appointed wedding reception full of food and drinks, and a mystical desert at your doorstep, so the baseline is pretty high. I know Nyles and Sarah have their own issues (guiltily sneaking out of bed every morning; being hunted by a crazed and vindictive J.K. Simmons), but if I’m just a random wedding guest? 1
Tuna Tartare in Crispy Wonton Cups from What Should I Make For Dinner
“Is this tuna?” Roy asks as he grabs a crispy cup full of colorful bits during his first go at the reception. Apparently the answer is yes, and when we later see loop-stuck Roy at home in Irvine he has been inspired to grill up tuna steaks for his family.
Up next: Uh oh but what if an older version of you were also in the mix
Mid way through reading this, I looked up this movie and watched it. Thank you. This was exactly my kind of movie.