Palm Springs

For a film that rips its premise off the ultimate time loop movie, "Groundhog Day," "Palm Springs" is surprisingly unpredictable and exceedingly charming. It's got an anarchic anything goes vibe and a pair of vibrant actors, Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, who also happen to have a ton of chemistry together. It's a movie for our very troubled times and seems tailor made for a quarantined audience, where day bleeds into day and the repetition of the weekly grind is sending many of us to the loony bin. The sweet message at the center of this otherwise naughty film is that it's not the what we do that keeps us happy but rather the who we do it with. It's all about appreciating the little things that make life worth living moment to moment rather than focusing all of our energies on the big things that we chase at the risk of letting peace and contentment pass us right on by.

This message is most effectively encapsulated in the character played by J.K. Simmons, who spends the first half of the movie trying to kill Andy Samberg and then has a great scene toward the end that makes the most mundane situation imaginable seem like a little piece of heaven. How I can relate to that right now.....

Grade: A-

Due to the repetitive nature of time loop movies, they have to be done right in order to keep the audience engaged the whole time. Palm Springs does it right. This film does a great job of keeping things fresh. Andy Samberg shows that he's more than just a goofball, and Cristin Milioti proves, once again, why she should have had a more prominent role on How I Met Your Mother. I wish this film were a little less vulgar, so it would be accessible to a broader audience, because I think more people should take a trip with Palm Springs.

I am not sure that time loop movies should be an entire movie genre. I am not sure that we needed another version of Groundhog's Day. I am not sure this movie should have attempted to explain the quantum physics involved in its plot. But I am 100% sure that I enjoyed watching it. I was genuinely amused, surprised, and touched thanks to some pretty great writing and performances. I walked in thinking the movie should not exist, and I walked away glad that it happened anyway. That's a pretty big compliment.

Or is it? Sometimes you can't tell. Also while this is reminiscent of a Bill Murray classic, it does not contain the moral lesson. At least it is not meant to be taken that way. Doesn't mean there is not good things happening and characters developing. It just not as attached to the story or rather resolution as the Murray movie was.

Having said that, this also is more in the R-rated territory. So while it has some nice moments, it also isn't afraid of pulling punches. This is really funny and the two leads give it their all. Even JK Simmons who's barely in it, is as grounded (no pun intended) as he always is. But it is about the chemistry of the two lead actors and it really translates more than well. Brooklyn 99 fans and/or Lonely Island fans don't need me to tell them this anyway. Yes he also did SNL, which seems ages away ... comedy is his thing, no doubt about it.

... but re-dimensioned in such a way that the films it copies will look a little less appealing next time it comes to replaying them - whether it be in the past, the present or the future.