Palm Springs Is the Perfect Vacation From Your Infinite Quarantine Time Loop

Despite clearly being made without knowledge of the impending coronavirus pandemic, I can't view Palm Springs as anything other than an allegory for our current state in quarantine. Perhaps four months inside my parents' Florida home has warped my brain to the point that living the same day on repeat forever feels more within the realm of possibility than ever attending a boho-chic wedding in sunny California in the future.

When the Hulu Groundhog Day–style romantic comedy picks up, Nyles (Andy Samberg) has been trapped at the wedding of his cheating girlfriend's best friend for an undetermined amount of time. He's been drinking the same cheap beer at the same resort with the same group of relative strangers for at least thousands of days. His routine is only shaken when Sarah (Cristin Milioti)—the sister of the bride—hooks up with Nyles and unwittingly follows him right into a mysterious cave, resigning her to his same fate. You know, “One of those infinite-time-loop situations you may have heard about.” 

What follows is not par for the course for your usual rom-com. Sure, there's the expected banter and sexual tension that lead to eventual feelings, conflicts, and resolution, but Palm Springs writer Andy Siara and director Max Barbakow spend a hefty amount of time focused on Nyles’s and Sarah’s individual responses to a torturous, repetitive existence. 

It's fitting that Samberg's latest ne'er-do-well goes by Nyles, as his approach to life has become particularly nihilistic—everything is meaningless aside from food, fun, and avoiding a slow, painful death at all costs. A quick death is fine: The moment he dies or falls asleep, he's instantly transported to his bed with his kind-of girlfriend, Misty, and the entire ordeal begins again, but the pain is one of the few things that still feels real. 

Sarah—whose sometimes improvised portrayal by Milioti proves the actor should headline every major comedy in the future—feels completely trapped, unable to escape the stressors caused by close proximity to her family, and even worse, herself (sounds familiar). It's Sarah who we get to see explore every possible option to break the loop before briefly surrendering to her newfound fate. 

“Everyone will be able to relate to that feeling of waking up and repeating the same day over and over,” Milioti tells me over the phone. “We can't escape realizations about the way that our country works and the systems that it runs on and how horrendous and harmful they are. Like, you have to sit with yourself, you have to sit with this knowledge. I think that ultimately is a very positive thing, but I think that people will relate to that aspect of the film for sure.”

At times I've felt like Nyles, content with my daily social-distance walks and bike rides, losing perspective on my hopes and goals for the future. Other days, I've been Sarah, scratching at the walls for a way out—filled with anxiety and little self-compassion. Still, between all the frustration and fear and rage, Nyles and Sarah fill time with pranks and choreographed dances and fall in love while lounging on pizza-shaped pool floats. Life's a constant state of purgatory, but it's not quite hell. Similarly, I know my own socially distanced lifestyle is much more privileged than that of many. 

That being said, before Palm Springs, I couldn't imagine wanting to watch anything that might remind me of this fearful state of nothingness we are currently experiencing. There's a reason we seem to be collectively drawn to comfortable old favorites like Friends or nostalgia plays like The Baby-Sitters Club. However, the chemistry between Samberg and Milioti shines through in one of the funniest, absurdly charming movies of 2020. 

Despite Palm Springs’s serendipitous themes and message, watching Nyles and Sarah attempt to escape their infinite time loop was the exact vacation I needed from my own.

Stream Palm Springs on Hulu. 

Emily Tannenbaum is a freelance writer and the weekend editor at Glamour. Follow her on Twitter.

Originally Appeared on Glamour