Hi! I’m Jillian Moore, and I’ll be heading up the CHS chapter of the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists this year, as well as helping to organize MUSE and other student-run journalism and creative writing endeavors and outreach. With that said, I will be reviewing the movie Palm Springs (2020) for our theme of Summer Cinema. 

Although Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti and J.K. Simmons starred in this movie, Palm Springs was never released in theaters because of COVID-19 restrictions. Which is sad, because I think the “American science fiction romantic comedy” would’ve been a box office success story. Keeping this in mind, let’s dive into the world of Palm Springs. I’ll spare you the creative details and circumstances, but Nyles (Samberg) has inadvertently led two wedding guests into a time loop. The movie begins with Roy (Simmons) actively hating Nyles for this, while Sarah (Milioti) has just entered the loop. I’ve seen this movie compared to Groundhog Day (1993), but besides the “doomed to repeat the same day over and over” idea, they’re really not similar. Nyles has become complacent and carefree; he has totally given up on escape. Sarah adopts this attitude with him, and the two fall in love while doing whatever they want with no consequences. In actuality, it is Roy that experiences a character arc more similar to Groundhog Day– he learns to appreciate his family and the simple life. Nyles and Sarah never really get there. 

This romantic comedy had a surprising amount of dark humor, but what I remembered most was the cinematography and the lovingly and painfully ambiguous ending. Everything takes place in a sun-baked desert full of jaded wedding guests, pools, sunsets and endless highways. There is gorgeous use of color and music and denim jackets. Director Max Barbakow contrasts optimism and pessimism in all aspects- where you might expect optimism (a wedding) everyone is miserable, and where you would find pessimism (deserts and ramshackle bars) Nyles and Sarah are at their happiest. While Nyles is content to stay in the time loop forever with Sarah, Sarah is determined to escape. She becomes an expert on quantum physics and thinks she knows how to leave (in a relatively dangerous manner, of course). Nyles confesses his love for her and both attempt to escape the time loop together and the screen goes black and- do they succeed? There are a few more minutes of film after this (probably the most well-known shots), but even once you’ve finished the movie you still don’t really know. Watch and see for yourself, because the interpretation of this ending is highly up to you, how much you believe in love, and how well you understand the dilemmas of quantum physics. 

Remarkably, there is no real villain in this movie. There are bad people, sure; in fact, no one in this movie is what I would call a good person, but this doesn’t stop the viewer from sympathizing with them. Even the element of time is removed- Nyles and Sarah literally have all the time in the world. So the movie becomes more of a proof that without the pressures of time and money, people will develop and grow for the better. Watch Palm Springs if you want to get inspired to live a little, have some existentialist thoughts, and maybe just realize that love is what it takes to escape time loops- whatever your time loop may be. 

On this blog, members of the Carmel High School chapter of the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists (and the occasional guest writer) produce curations of all facets of popular culture, from TV shows to music to novels to technology. We hope our readers always leave with something new to muse over. Click here to read more from MUSE.