PALM SPRINGS | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Max Barbakow (15, 90 mins)
Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti have a relationship Groundhog Day in this winning romantic comedy that provides laughs and pathos. A wedding in Palm Springs is the setting for Samberg’s seemingly carefree Nyles and stressed maid of honour Milioti’s relationship trauma as, in the wake of a small earthquake, the pair of them become entwined in an endless time loop, reliving November 9 ad infinitum.
Samberg, it transpires, has been reliving this day a lot longer than Milioti, but when she follows him into a glowing cave after he is a shot by a crossbow-wielding JK Simmons, she finds herself trapped with him on that day too. The film then documents them attempting to deal with their circumstances – falling in love, breaking up, falling back in love again – as they endlessly replay that day. Samberg negotiates a dancefloor with practiced ease, sashaying his way through every possible obstacle; the real reason behind Milioti’s reluctance to be a maid of honour is revealed, as is the identity of Simmons’ would-be assassin.
Palm Springs is inventive and fun, with everything from an explicit sex montage, dinosaurs to a physics-busting denouement thrown in for good measure. There are self-inflicted deaths, of course, as the pressures become too much, but there is also a believable romantic relationship between Samberg and Milioti that keeps the more insane plot elements in check. They realise they are invincible and do things they shouldn’t – picking fights, crashing planes – but nothing seems to have consequences, even if they are the best versions of themselves too, battling on through a godless universe together trying to find a meaning to it all.
Ultimately, however, the idea of being without each other on the repetitious daily grind of a relationship may bring them truly together. Samberg and Milioti make a very likeable couple to root for in this funny and wise take on the nature of love and relationships.
Released on Amazon Prime on Fri 9 Apr
words KEIRON SELF