This was an early birthday present for me. I have no love of Andy Samberg; in fact, I find his shtick often repugnant. There’s only one (1) reason I chose to watch this film – I saw an interview with Samberg on the Seth Meyers show and the former advertised a new film. 2020 is a very poor year for film; we’re going to look back on this film year the way oenophiles view the phylloxera crop year or sports fans see a strike season. 2020 films are rare; I want to collect as many as I can, even (and perhaps especially) ones I cannot believe will satisfy. My reward for pigheaded sample-size increasing was the best surprise I’ve had in many, many moons.
It didn’t start out that way…Nyles (Samberg) is a nonplussed guest at a Palm Springs wedding. He wakes up to uninspired sex with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner). He spends the hours up to the wedding drinking beer on a pizza-shaped raft in the hotel pool. He dresses for the afternoon wedding like he’s a cabana boy at a cheesy resort. His expression of “Meh” hasn’t changed all day. Dude, if you’re not into this film, why should the audience be? At the reception he picks up his game slightly, but not enough to seduce viewers; he saves the maid-of-honor, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), from a personal toast disaster and pulls a perfume-related parlor trick to capture her attention and short-lived affection.
And then it gets good.
As Nyles and Sarah start getting down in the desert, a dark figure (J.K.Simmons) starts puncturing Nyles with arrows. Judging by Nyles reaction, he knows who is attacking him and why. OK, you definitely have my attention now, movie. As Nyles retreats into a cave for safety, he urges Sarah not to follow, but she does. And … guess what? The very next scene Nyles wakes up to uninspired sex with his girlfriend, Misty. The very same uninspired sex as the day before. No arrow wounds, no evidence of beer debauchery, nor hint that he gave the bridesmaid’s toast the night before. The wedding is still ahead of us, not behind.
My first thought here is – what is so freaking bad about a perpetual wedding Saturday in sunny Palm Springs? As eternal circles of Hell go, isn’t this a pretty good one? There’s leisure and alcohol and sex and food and a whole slew of soon-to-be uninhibited folks dressed to the nines, where’s the bad? I mean, sure, every once in a while, the maniac from Whiplash shows up to do you in, but hours later, you’re good-as-new to seduce again. This film is a lot like Groundhog Day if we’d allowed Phil Connors to choose his own everlasting gobstopper of doom.
And now Andy Samberg’s own lackadaisical, half-assed, yet perpetually over-the-top approach to his craft makes perfect sense! Instead of being annoyed by Samberg, I’m sympathetic. Wouldn’t eternal leisure turn you in Andy Samberg? I bet it would. Contrarily, Sarah doesn’t see her new birth in Hell in quite the same light. Her resignation turns to anger and a search for solutions. The Sartresque scenario is as follows: there are three people living this day over-and-over-and-over and none of them are necessarily simpatico. It’s possible I’m giving the screenplay more credit than it deserves, and it’s also possible that I’m not. Here’s what I do know: I came into this film expecting 1 star or less, FULLY expecting to need three or four sittings to see the entire thing, but past the ten-minute mark, I was riveted for the remainder.
Groundhog Day is a great film for many reasons, but some of them are subtle, like the fact that modern directors take multiple takes of every shot…why throwout the bad footage … can’t it just add to the existential puzzle of the world we’ve built? Yet, I’ve never reflected how poignant the Groundhog Day script is for times like these. Groundhog Day, Palm Springs, Happy Death Day and the like are commentaries on the repetitive nature of life and the way we live it. Never has this observation been more relevant than during our current COVID quarantine. The days, the sights, the duties, the responses all follow dull repetitive patterns. The key isn’t recognizing the pattern; it’s recognizing how to destroy the pattern.
I really wish I felt good about giving this film 3.5 or 4 stars. I want to. Know why? Because Palm Springs represents the biggest positive difference between expectation and reality in several years of filmwatching. Years of reviews tell me –much as I loved the surprise- that Palm Springs isn’t actually among the upper echelon of film. But I will say this much – not only did this film delight me, but I’ve turned a corner on Samberg; I now feel the exact opposite about him than the way I feel about Adam Sandler. Sandler’s career is a ski-slope to crap; Samberg is still riding the T-Bar uphill. Hope it never stops, Andy. Good luck.
Nyles is on permanent vacay
His sunny hotel seems a pleasant Hellstay
But life’s a sad affair
Always waking to Sonny & Cher
Rats, I’m still stuck on Groundhog Day
Rated R, 90 Minutes
Director: Max Barbakow
Writer: Andy Siara
Genre: A painful reminder that even the good ties can grow tiresome
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who know nothing about the film
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who still tire of Andy Samberg – I’m with you in spirit, my homies; but this isn’t the film to complain about
