Palm Springs

[emperor]

Another Hugo shortlist entry. I wasn't really expecting to enjoy this, as romcoms are very much Not My Thing, but I actually thought it was pretty good (and had plenty of laugh-out-loud moments).

The premise is a wedding day that is an infinite time-loop for a few of the characters - one of whom has been looping for ages, another of whom gets stuck in the loop at the start of the film; so we learn about what's going on as they do. Despite Groundhog Day not being explicitly mentioned ever, this is a plot device that's been used before, but I liked the fun (and near-absence of cringe comedy) and humour of this, as well as the hints of darkness (there's a nihilism under the surface that is never lingered on) that made the characters much more sympathetic.

At 90 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome, either.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

I am with you on rom-coms, but sometimes they do work.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, thought this was fun.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

We watched it last night and enjoyed it. It had some interesting things to say about morality: even if consequentialism doesn't apply because the effects on other people will be reset, it still matters what kind of person your actions make you.

I disagree about the "near-absence of cringe comedy", though. I thought the first 15 minutes or so were pure cringe comedy, and was worried it would all be like that and tempted to just turn it off, but thankfully it got better as it went along.