{"id":20766,"date":"2020-07-07T16:28:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T23:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20766"},"modified":"2020-07-07T16:28:52","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T23:28:52","slug":"palm-springs-is-a-charming-feature-full-of-surprises-and-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20766","title":{"rendered":"PALM SPRINGS is a Charming Feature Full of Surprises and Laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This movie will be available for streaming Friday, July 10th<\/sup> on\u00a0Hulu.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a critic, you often see early screenings of films without\nany idea of the story or plot. Occasionally, it leaves us with much less\nknowledge than audiences who see promos and commercials on TV in the week\nleading up to a movie\u2019s release. Often, the only information available is just\nthe cast members and general premise. This usually doesn\u2019t make a great\ndifference, as most titles are straight-forward and predictable right out of\nthe gate. However, that is not the case with the new indie film, Palm Springs<\/em>.\nThis reviewer came into the movie expecting one thing and found himself\nsurprised and amused as it progressed. If you haven\u2019t heard anything about the\npicture, it\u2019s best to go in completely cold and let yourself be taken on a wild\nride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All that you need to know is that Nyles (Andy Samberg) is in\nPalm Springs attending a wedding with his bubbly bridesmaid girlfriend, Misty\n(Meredith Hagner). They\u2019re an odd pairing, seeing as Nyles has a much more gloomy\nand downcast disposition. During the reception, Nyles decides to step in and\nhelp rescue the bride\u2019s sister Sarah (Cristin Milioti) from giving a similarly\nunenthusiastic and lackluster speech. The personalities of these two appear much\nmore in sync (in fact, both of them might have some alcohol problems and\nimpulsive behavior issues). In any event, they become fast friends, sharing\ntheir personal opinions about marriage and life, as well as details about other\nattendees at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first ten minutes, everything plays like a fairly\ntypical indie romantic-comedy. There are a few funny moments early on as the\ncharacters are introduced and Nyles breaks out some entertaining moves on the\ndancefloor. It\u2019s all very enjoyable, but also nothing that would stand out as\nbeing unexpected or extraordinary. However, it isn\u2019t long after that Sarah\ndiscovers the very unusual and incredibly peculiar reason for Nyles\u2019 eccentric behavior\nthat veers from being completely unfazed by the world around him to being\nremarkably pessimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What follows are a series of outrageous situations as Sarah\njoins Nyles in his very bizarre adventure and attempts to figure out what the\nheck is going on. Once viewers know where the movie is actually headed, the\nplot will admittedly remind them of other similarly themed pictures, but the\nfocus on these two characters and their own specific ways of dealing with the\nproblems at hand, as well as the effects on their psyches are different and\nrewarding enough for this feature to stand tall on its own merits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The two leads are quite likable as they deal with problems\nin their own distinctive ways, resulting in several outrageous and impulsive\nexploits. This is an independent film, so there is more discussion about personal\nphilosophy and finding a way to live out one\u2019s life with a sense of happiness.\nSamberg\u2019s character isn\u2019t too far removed from other roles he has played in\nfilm and on TV, but the character has slightly a darker soul. As such, the\nperformer derives some extra laughs from bluntly stating his bleak future\nprospects. His decision to give up on everything and embrace the fact that, in\nhis own words, nothing matters, is quite funny in this story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milioti has a lot material to work with as well, running\nthrough the gamut of emotions from shock and surprise to anger and\npro-activeness over the course of the pair\u2019s intense relationship. The film\nalso benefits from the appearance of another wedding guest named Ray (J.K.\nSimmons), who has a very violent and unpredictable streak. Admittedly, despite\nall of the soul-searching and discussions about the meaning of life, the movie keeps\nthe ultimate revelations simple and sweet. However, it\u2019s still a whole lot of\nfun watching these characters act out in surreal and funny ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Palm Springs<\/em> delivers plenty of laughs and\nunexpected surprises over the course of its running time, and the eccentric\nleads even manage to express a few interesting philosophical arguments in the\nprocess. It\u2019s a charming and triumphant little indie film, and one that will\nmost certainly get viewers thinking about how they might handle such a\npredicament.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This movie will be available for streaming Friday, July 10th on\u00a0Hulu. As a critic, you often see early screenings of films without any idea of the story or plot. Occasionally, it leaves us with much less knowledge than audiences who see promos and commercials on TV in the week leading up to a movie\u2019s release. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,1405,4660,4930,6251,9474,9774,9789,10067,15663,15664,15665,15666,24063],"class_list":["post-20766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-andy-samberg","tag-comedy","tag-cristin-milioti","tag-drama","tag-hulu","tag-independent","tag-indie-film","tag-j-k-simmons","tag-palm-springs","tag-palm-springs-film-review","tag-palm-springs-movie-review","tag-palm-springs-review","tag-wedding"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}