Loop Life and Love Palm Springs Movie Review

If there is a romantic comedy I would recommend to everyone, it would be Palm Springs movie. It was a boring Sunday, and I decided to watch a movie that would change my mood. So, I decided to watch something I had been thinking of watching for quite some time. I mean, it stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, it has to be noice and legendary, right?
What? Jake Peralta and the mother from HIMYM (her name is Tracy McConnell, btw) TOGETHER? What??? But trust me, the Palm Springs movie is worth it!

Cast of Palm Springs Movie

Andy Samberg as Nyles

Andy is famous for his role as a detective in the hit TV sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Jake Peralta. He also has a music group, The Lonely Island, with his childhood friends.

Cristin Milioti as Sarah

Cristin Milioti is famous for her role as the Mother in the TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother. She has also starred in the Prime Video TV series, Modern Love.

J.K Simmons as Roy

J.K Simmons starred in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Being the Ricardos, and Glorious.

Camila Mendes as Tala

Camila played Veronica Lodge in the TV series, Riverdale. She has also starred in the movie The Perfect Date alongside Noah Centineo and Laura Marano.

Tyler Hoechlin as Abe

Tyler portrayed the character of Derek Hale in the TV series Teen Wolf. Besides, he has also starred in Supergirl and Flash.

Peter Gallagher as Howard Wilder

Peter Gallagher recently starred in Grey’s Anatomy and the 2021 movie, One December Night.

Meredith Hagner as Misty

Meredith Hagner has starred in Search Party, and the 2021 movie Vacation Friends.

Plot Premise

Palm Springs movie follows a time loop and in that time loop is the love story between Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti). The movie starts with a voice telling Nyles to “Wake Up”, which is how all the loops start. Nyles has come with his girlfriend, Misty to Palm Springs, California to attend the wedding of Misty’s friend Tala.

Nyles appears to be entirely uninterested during the wedding, that is until he spots Sarah. *oohh* Sarah, Tala’s sister, happens to be the maid of honour in the wedding. Opposite to her character in HIMYM, Sarah, in the Palm Springs movie is a screw-up. When she gets called to do the maid of honour speech, she looks visibly out-of-it. Seeing her, Nyles, makes it his job to intervene and make his own speech about life, how people are lost and alone in this world.

But soon, Sarah finds out that Misty had been cheating on Nyles. Well, the annoying girlfriend is out of the way. Now Nyles and Sarah will lock eyes and fall in love, right? Mm, not really.

Just as the both of them were about to have sex, Nyles gets shot with an arrow on his back. After that, Sarah kept following Nyles who was running away from Roy, the shooter. Soon, she sees that Nyles ran into a cave that was glowing with some light, and she followed him there.

*Wake Up*
From this point on, both Nyles and Sarah repeat their days. They live the exact same wedding day over and over and over again. Nyles tells Sarah that he had been living in the loop for a really long time. While being in the loop, they can go as far away as they want to, but they’d end up at the same place only. They can’t die either. Really, there was no way out of the loop.

For Sarah, this was shocking, it shook her as much as an earthquake shakes the land. (Did you get it? 😉 ) However, after some time, she starts to see the beauty of this loop. Both her and Nyles set on to do some chaotic & bizarre activities. Although for them, it was not YOLO, but they did do anything and everything that they wanted to.

And soon… they fell in love. BUT, they didn’t know it yet.

Just as it happens, Sarah comes to know something that she had chosen to forget. She starts acting aloof from Nyles, who finds her behaviour strange. As the chaos was making her anxious, Sarah decides to confront Roy. When the confrontation happens, everything gets twisted. Nyles says some honest truths to Sarah and she decides to stop that day.

*Wake Up*
After everything that happens, Sarah sets out to get out of the loop. Every day is the same, she goes to a local diner to read quantum physics. Soon, she comes up with a plan to end the loop. All this time, she had been away from Nyles. This time apart from each other makes them realize that they both love each other.

Once she has tested out her theory, she tells Nyles what she plans to do. Nyles was not convinced, however, he makes his choice by the end and decides that he wants to be with Sarah. So, they both set the plan in action and successfully make it out of the loop.

And yes, they confess to each other.

Palm Springs Movie Themes

Even as a romantic comedy, Palm Springs does not entirely revolve around the guy chasing the girl or vice versa. Unlike many other movies of the similar genre, this movie shows a lot more than just the basics.

Loop – There is a time loop that keeps on repeating in the movie, showing the mundane routine of people. The loop may be seen as a representation of society. Nyles and Sarah are the people who try to find some fun, if not a meaning, in this loop. Moreover, they also try to break free from this continuous loop.

Life – In this loop are two people, and Roy. All of them have their own perspective on life and its meaning. This perspective changes when they find themselves stuck in the loop. Sarah, really, starts to do some self reflection and sets some things right for herself and for others. Nyles, once a cynical guy, starts to believe that there could be an end to this loop. Roy, who was once furious and could not accept the reality of life as it was, started to accept it.

Love – In the continuous loop of the Palm Springs movie, Nyles and Sarah explore real love. It wasn’t just because they were in the loop together but also because they did the work, they made efforts, and they made a meaningful connection.

Loneliness – Being stuck in a loop made it lonely for Nyles. The only person who was a part of the loop was Roy, and he hated him. As fun as it was in the beginning for Nyles, he soon started to feel alone and lonely in the loop. No one would remember what happened, there were no consequences for anyone but Nyles.

Palm Spring Movie – My Thoughts

Palm Springs is not like any other rom-com that I have seen. Lately, many of these rom-coms follow the same plot. There was a time when such a plot used to guarantee a hit, but now the times have changed drastically. Now, people want to see redemption and character growth. Red flags will not give you a good love story, fam. Personally, I felt that this movie was different because it showed the character growth of Nyles, Sarah, and Roy.

Palm Springs also throws out the cliché idea of a love story. The love between Nyles and Sarah was not perfect, they were not honest with each other from the start. Even then, once all the issues between them were resolved, I saw two mature people accepting each other as they were. No unnecessary drama and no fuss.

Something else that stood out for me was Sarah taking the matters in her hand and Nyles not stealing her glory. It was amazing to see a female character find the solution to the problem. On the same note, I was glad to see that it was relevant to the storyline. Had the writers written some weird deus ex machina to solve the crisis, it might have been a little questionable for me. The fact that this time loop crisis was resolved with the help of science was what made this movie stand out for me.

I have no interest in this…Emptiness, you know?
The who, what, why of your past.
You got here, that’s all that matters.

But if you really wanna know someone deeper, it does matter.
You have to know the whole package.

Whatever happens in your past makes you who you are today. When I saw this dialogue exchange between Nyles and Sarah I could see both of their perspectives. Maybe, Nyles meant that it doesn’t matter that you have made mistakes in the past, what matters is that you have come far from that, you have made significant changes in yourself and your life. As for Sarah, she expressed that you can’t throw out a person’s past just because it is gone. The insecurities that a person has today, maybe there because of that person’s past. Hence, past matters, the whole package matters.

Lastly, the Palm Springs movie tells the viewers about the beauty of acceptance, growth, love, and connection. Nyles, who was once cynical, comes to realize that he needs people around him, he needs support. On the other hand, Sarah decides to end the day. This means that she took a bold step to end all the bad affairs by ending the loop that they were stuck in.

Anyway, as skeptical as I was before watching this movie, I completed it and thought to myself…Ye Bhi Theek Hai!!