Palm Springs (2020)

[Flack]

Nyles (Andy Samberg) is going nowhere, literally. Nyles is stuck in a time loop. After falling into a magic hole in the center of a cave, Nyles now finds himself waking up every morning and living the same day over and over. On this particular day Nyles attends a wedding with his girlfriend, who ends up cheating on him. He's been stuck in the loop so long that he doesn't remember his life prior to the loop. Whether he makes it to the end of the day and falls asleep, or ends up dying, the next morning he wakes up and does it all over again.

Along the way, Nyles has introduced two other people to the magic hole: Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the sister of the bride whom Nyles is trying to hook up with, and Roy (J.K. Simmons), a wedding attendee who is so upset about being caught in the loop that he hunts down Nyles and kills him every few days.

Like Groundhog Day, Russian Doll, and countless other films, the core of the film revolves around Nyles and Sarah's search to find their way out of the loop. Traditionally this is handled by characters fixing something or changing their actions throughout the day in order to escape the day, but it's handled a little differently (and not as elegantly) in this film. That's not to say that the characters don't grow -- they do -- but their growth doesn't isn't directly related to their escape.

As a fan of Samberg's Lonely Island productions (I personally found Hot Rod hilarious), I just couldn't get into this. It's a low brow comedian with a big budget. Most of the abstract humor is gone. The biggest crime here is that if you're going recycle a cliche movie plot, you have to do something new with it (see Russian Doll). This is Groundhog Day, just not as good.

[Tdarcos]

Like Groundhog Day, Russian Doll, and countless other films, ...

TVtropes records 39 different movies using the trope "Groundhog Day" Loop and maybe a half-dozen variations on the trope. Palm Springs is listed; Russian Doll, however, is not.

This is Groundhog Day, just not as good.

I'm sure we've heard this before...

[Flack]

TVtropes records 39 different movies using the trope "Groundhog Day" Loop and maybe a half-dozen variations on the trope. Palm Springs is listed; Russian Doll, however, is not.

It is listed under "Live Action TV" on that page because it was a Netflix miniseries.

"The Netflix series Russian Doll has this as a premise with the main character dying and restarting at her birthday party. Even when she makes it to the next day, if she dies, she ends up back at the party."