“You gotta find your Irvine.”

Heather’s rating: Still trying to find my Irvine.

Heather’s review: Kudos to Justin for making me privy to another movie I hadn’t yet heard about and if I’m honest, judging by the description and cover image that popped up in my Hulu feed, never would have caught my interest.

I like Sandberg just fine, but um…Justin’s right. Those first few minutes need an overhaul. The point of it was to set up what a non-relationship he has with Misty, but there are much better ways to go about it that wouldn’t have people thinking it’s some early 2000s sex comedy. It’s not, so you’re either disappointed, tune out early from disgust, or fight through it and realize it’s got a lot more to offer.

Watching Nyles and Sarah go from potential hookup to legitimate best friends to a couple was genuinely hilarious and super fun to watch. I love watching people in time loop comedies work the system, mess with people, and generally have a fantastic time. That being said, I really enjoyed the line from Nyles where he argues that what they do actually does matter. Sure, no one remembers anything and everything resets…everything except the memories of those who are trapped in the loop. They have to live with what they do even though everyone around them does not. Unfortunately, this brings me to my main aggravation with this film:

The Fight. I hate The Fight. It’s the one that comes at the same moment in every couple’s relationship, where things are just starting to take a turn for the best. It’s always full of the same misunderstandings/liar revealed/”let’s yell at each other about things that just came out of nowhere” tripe. I have never, ever seen The Fight happen in real life. Not in the relationships of anyone I know personally and not in any of mine. It really makes me appreciate the care that writers put into good couples’ fights. The kind that are uncomfortable to watch because you suddenly wonder if a recording was leaked of you and your significant other screaming at each other because one of you overcooked the broccoli and YOU ALWAYS DO THIS. Spoiler alert: That fight wasn’t actually about the broccoli.

But I digress: Palm Springs is a fun little diversion, one I’ll probably remember for a while if for no other reason than I love J.K. Simmons’s acting and character in this role. His scenes are so much fun to watch and the Sarah-less scenes that I found the most enjoyable. Watching mopey do-nothing Nyles is the movie’s other weak point and Simmons is some much-needed fresh air. Sarah is all-around the much more interesting, hilarious character in the twosome and it’s odd that we’re given Nyles as our main POV character, but here we are.

Give it a watch, laugh a little bit more in the midst of all of this, and take care out there, Mutants.

Justin’s rating: Didn’t we just review this movie yesterday?

Justin’s review: The idea of a time loop — of a character repeating the same day or same stretch of time over and over again — has been done to death (literally, in the case of the movie Happy Death Day). Groundhog’s Day is the most well-known, but we’ve seen it in 12:01, Edge of Tomorrow, Primer, and every sixth episode of Star Trek. There’s something about the concept that gets both creators and audiences juiced up, and I think I know what it is. We’re intrigued by the thought of what we ourselves would do if we were caught repeating the same day forever. It’s both intriguing and horrifying when you play out the possibilities on a long enough timeline.

As it’s been done so often, time loop films are hard to surprise and come up with a different twist, but I think Palm Springs may have done just that. A festival darling that was pretty popular when it released during the pandemic, this film throws us for a second (and third) loop when it asks — what if someone else was trapped in the time loop with you.

The setup is that it’s been pretty much forever November 9th for Nyles (Andy Samberg), a laid back and somewhat sad guy who somehow stumbled into a cave that threw him into repeating the same day where he’s at a house wedding in the desert. The days don’t ever change, nor does he; Nyles has made a nihilistic peace with his existence, thinking that nothing he does really matters. And so he drinks, he parties, and he gradually forgets about the life he had back before the time loop began.

But change does hit him when Sarah (Cristin Milioti) ends up following him into the time cave one night and finds herself trapped in the same hellish (if beautiful) day in which she’s dealing with a mistake she made the night before, her sister’s wedding, and her only real friend being a guy who doesn’t seem to care much for doing anything significant. It’s kind of interesting that we get both sides of this concept from the two main characters. With Nyles, we have the guy who’s been in the loop for a long, long time and knows its ins and outs like the back of his hand. With Sarah, we have someone discovering it for the first time and trying all of the things Nyles did way back when.

To complicate things, there’s a third person, Roy (J.K. Simmons), who is also in the loop and blames Nyles for it — often with painful and lethal intent. Roy’s story isn’t as significant to the plot itself, but it does have a lot more depth than you might first realize.

Since the only real change that happens between the daily resets is the relationship and personal development of Sarah and Nyles, Palm Springs becomes a weird romcom of a sort. It’s not quite traditional in the way you’d expect, because what was once infatuation takes a back seat to a budding friendship that forms the core of this pair. In fact, I’d say it’s actually more interesting to watch two people fall into friendship as they do here than to have them make googly eyes and start spewing hormones everywhere.

Weirdly enough, it’s the first 20 or so minutes of the movie that’s its least likable, even as the plot is being set up. It’s like the raunch was ratcheted up during that period and then eased back somewhat for most of the rest of the film. In fact, my wife couldn’t even make it past 15 minutes before she bailed, and I was close to joining her. Fortunately it got less offensive (although it still has its moments) and started to get a good balance between mature topics (philosophy, suicide, sex, familial relationships) and humor.

But understand me well: Palm Springs is, at times, very dark. It’s also, at times, funny and goofy, and that’s where I found myself faltering in whether or not to give it a personal endorsement. There were some scenes that were just disturbing or gory for a bit of quick shock value, then quickly glossed over as the day reset. It’s also hard to root for Nyles as he spends too much time moping and being a shell of a person. When you’re used to seeing Samberg be a total goofball in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it’s unsettling to see him have this deep-seated weariness that he lugs around with him for most of the movie. In fact, it’s simply hard to get behind the two leads. They’re angry, apathetic, and largely unlikable except for a few stretches where they have fun with the possibilities of the time loop and express genuine friendship.

But sometimes I judge a movie based on how much it leaves me thinking about the plot and premise afterward, and in this, Palm Springs has plenty to offer. I liked that Sarah didn’t take Nyles’ path of surrender but rather started to fight against the time loop in her own way. I felt genuine pity toward Roy the more we got to know him and his situation. And there are a few intriguing mysteries — the dinosaurs, Nana — that offer some alternative possibilities for the movie’s setup as well.

Palm Springs has a rough mouth, an active brain, and a beating heart to it, and it might just be the most slyly smart film of 2020.