Usually, living through a cinematic time loop is a very lonely affair. Bill Murray’s weatherman Phil Connors spent a lot of time trying to better himself in Groundhog Day, with no one to remember his long personal evolution. Jessica Rothe’s Tree Gelbman stopped the homicidal output of a vengeful slasher in Happy Death Day by unravelling a very bloody mystery on her own terms, and even Tom Cruise had to convince Emily Blunt to help him out each time he awoke from his unhappy slumber in Edge of Tomorrow, but in Palm Springs, Andy Samberg manages to drag Cristin Milioti (Black Mirror) into repeating the same sunny day poolside over and over again.
Palm Springs is the debut feature film of Max Barbakow and was written by Lodge 49 staff writer Andy Siara. In the project, which streamer Hulu and Parasite distributor Neon won in a Sundance bidding war for a staggering $17.5 million back in January, Samberg and Milioti lead a cast that includes J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Tyler Hoechlin (Teen Wolf), Meredith Hagner (Search Party), Camila Mendes (Riverdale) and Peter Gallagher (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist).
Here’s the official logline:
“While stuck at a wedding in Palm Springs, Nyles (Samberg) meets Sarah (Milioti), the maid of honor and family black sheep. After he rescues her from a disastrous toast, Sarah becomes drawn to Nyles and his offbeat nihilism. But when their impromptu tryst is thwarted by a surreal interruption, Sarah must join Nyles in embracing the idea that nothing really matters, and they begin wreaking spirited havoc on the wedding celebration.”
Check out the trailer…
Barbakow and Siara have been friends for a long time, and have clearly made for a solid partnership on Palm Springs, which has been warmly received by critics and still holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score at the time of writing.
“We’ve known each other for seven years, right around when we both started taking ourselves seriously as filmmakers,” screenwriter Siara said of Barbakow (via No Film School). “We’ve got the same worldview, the same sense of humor. We’re both perfectionists. It’s rare to find someone else who laughs and cries at exactly the same stuff. That’s why I wanna hold onto him. We love the movies that make you have a gut laugh at something absurd, then transition into gut-wrenching emotion, then go back to the laughter. ‘Cause life is both silly and sad.”
The Lonely Island trio of Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone produced the film, which Siara says steered it in the right direction from the start.
“Those guys are where they are because they’re comedic geniuses. And tireless workers. We learned so much from them.”
Palm Springs will be streaming on Hulu from July 10.