Tomorrow is a Dream, Yesterday a Memory

A Review of Palm Springs

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of time loops. That’s what brought me to Palm Springs — the hope that it would explore something deep, something about life’s most elusive subject: Today.

To be fair, Palm Springs is entertaining. It has energy, momentum, and a few genuinely funny moments. But as a film that aims to build its entire world around a dark and potentially philosophical idea — being trapped in time — it fails to do justice to either the cinema or the concept.

Let’s start with the main character, Nyles. The movie gives us frustratingly little information about who he was before the loop. What kind of life did he live? What was his actual relationship with Misty beyond the surface-level repetition of being cheated on? If he’s aware she’s cheating, how does he still wake up each morning so eager to have sex with her? Who is he when the day actually matters? The film seems allergic to exploring that.

But the most glaring issue — one that I still can’t get over — is how Nyles ended up in the time loop in the first place. He’s the one who brings Roy and Sarah into this never-ending nightmare, and yet we never learn how he got trapped. Did the writers not stop for a second and ask: “Wait… how did our main character even get here?” That one missing detail undermines the whole foundation of the plot.

Then there’s the ending. Somehow, Sarah transforms overnight from a guilt-ridden wedding guest to a genius physicist who solves time-loop theory better than actual scientists. Cheating on her sister didn’t give her the deep transformation the film implies — at least, not in a way that’s convincingly shown. Where did this sudden character development come from? The script just throws her a new brain and says, “Wrap it up!” It’s like the director had fun, ran out of ideas, and just said, “Okay, time to go home — nature’s calling.”

Is it fun to watch? Sure, 5/10. Is it a good film? Not really, 3/10.

As for Cristin Milioti — this was a low point. After seeing her in sharp, emotionally complex roles like Black Mirror, I expected more. And now that she’s appearing in projects like The Penguin, hopefully we’ll only see the best of her moving forward. Honestly, one of the reasons I clicked “Play” was because of her. But this time, it just wasn’t satisfying.