Palm Springs

Starring Andy Samberg (who co-produced the film), Cristin Milioti, and J. K. Simmons, it focuses on two strangers who meet at a wedding in Palm Springs only to find themselves stuck in a time loop.

Palm Springs premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, and was simultaneously released on Hulu and in select theaters by Neon on July 10, 2020. The film received critical acclaim for its use of the concept and cast performances.

At the 78th Golden Globe Awards, it earned two nominations: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Samberg. Among other accolades, it won Best Comedy at the 26th Critics’ Choice Awards.

They leave the party to have sex in the nearby desert. As he undresses, Nyles is shot with an arrow fired by an assailant. Nyles, injured, crawls into a cave, warning Sarah not to follow him.

Concerned for Nyles, Sarah follows him and is sucked into a vortex. Sarah wakes up and realizes that it is November 9 again.

She confronts Nyles, and he explains that by following him into the cave, Sarah has become stuck in a time loop with him; falling asleep or dying resets the loop, repeating November 9.

Sarah tries various methods to escape the loop, but is unsuccessful. Nyles, having already been in the loop for a long time, has become complacent and carefree, abandoning hopes of escape.

Nyles and Sarah become close, and Sarah adopts Nyles’s carefree and reckless lifestyle. They both begin excitedly looking forward to their next adventures together.

Nyles reveals that the man who shot him, Roy, is from the wedding and that Nyles inadvertently trapped him in the time loop. In revenge, Roy sometimes hunts Nyles, torturing or murdering him.

One night, Nyles and Sarah camp out in the desert, get high, and have sex. The day after, Sarah sleeps in and is woken up by Abe, whom she had sex with on November 8, the night before the wedding.

Guilt-ridden, Sarah refuses to talk to Nyles about their previous night, expressing nihilism about their life in the loop. After being pulled over by Roy disguised as a cop, Sarah runs him over.

Sarah and Nyles argue, leading Nyles to admit that he had slept with Sarah many times in the loop, something he previously lied about. An angry Sarah starts avoiding Nyles.

Nyles feels lost without Sarah and spends multiple days aimlessly moping, discovering Abe and Sarah’s affair in the process. One day, Nyles visits Roy at his home in Irvine and they reconcile.

Meanwhile, Sarah, resolved to escape the time loop, spends her days studying to become an expert in quantum physics and general relativity. After some experimentation, she believes that exploding oneself in the cave will break the time loop.

Sarah offers Nyles a chance to escape with her, but he confesses his love for her and asks if they can stay in the loop together forever. Sarah refuses, resolved to try her escape plan without him.

Sarah attends the wedding one last time, giving a heartfelt speech to her sister, the bride, and then travels to the cave with explosives. Nyles, in a change of heart, rushes to the cave to leave with Sarah.

He admits that he would rather die with her in an explosion than remain in the loop alone. Sarah reciprocates his feelings, and they kiss in the cave, as she presses the detonator.

The two relax in the pool of a nearby house, which Nyles had showed Sarah during one of their loops. The residents return and catch them in the pool, thereby confirming that the plan has worked, and that it is now November 10.

In a mid-credits scene, Roy, having gotten a voicemail from Sarah explaining her plan to escape the loop, returns to the wedding and asks Nyles if the plan would work.

A confused Nyles does not recognize Roy, who smiles, realizing that Nyles is out of the loop and Sarah’s escape plan works.