Film

Palm Springs

Name: Palm Springs
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction
Released: 2020
Cast: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Peter Gallagher, Meredith Hagner

Palm Springs turns the time-loop premise into a sun-bleached, tequila-soaked hangout comedy set at a wedding nobody wants to be at. It's breezy, profane, and unexpectedly tender about what you do once immortality gets boring. Samberg's shrug-first charm meets Milioti's sharper edges. Perfect for a lazy afternoon when you want existential dread served with a pool float and a joint.

TMDb rating

7.3

If you liked this

Groundhog Day1993

The original template for this whole genre, and still the funniest: Bill Murray's arc from smug misery to grudging grace is the blueprint Palm Springs riffs on and answers with more cynicism.

But It's gentler and more wholesome than Palm Springs, without the sex, drugs, or bleakness that gives the newer film its edge.

Happy Death Day2017

Same trapped-in-a-day structure, but dressed as a slasher: a mean girl relives her own murder until she figures out who's killing her, and it's funnier than it has any right to be.

But The horror is played for laughs more than dread, so if you want actual scares rather than a rom-com in a mask, look elsewhere.

Edge of Tomorrow2014

Tom Cruise dies on a beach over and over in this slick, muscular sci-fi action version of the loop, with Emily Blunt as the soldier who's already mastered it.

But It's a big loud blockbuster with alien invasions, not a hangout comedy — tonally about as far from Palm Springs as you can get.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

La Jetée1962

Palm Springs' loop-as-trap structure has a direct ancestor here: a man revisits the same moment obsessively, and the film asks whether repetition can ever lead anywhere new, or just deeper into the same wound.

Made almost entirely from still photographs, this haunting French short is one of the most influential time-travel films ever made — it basically invented the emotional shape Palm Springs borrows for its own loop.

But It's 28 minutes of black-and-white stills and narration, not a movie in any conventional sense — austere where Palm Springs is loose and jokey.

Russian Doll2019

Natasha Lyonne dies repeatedly at her own birthday party in this sharp, melancholic series that treats the loop as a puzzle about grief and self-sabotage rather than just a gimmick.

But It's a full season rather than 90 minutes, and the tone gets considerably darker and more introspective as it goes.

About Time2013

A gentler, weepier take on bending time for love, following a young man who discovers he can travel backward and has to learn what's actually worth changing.

But It trades Palm Springs' anarchic energy for sentimentality — bring tissues, not a drinking game.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things2021no page yet

Two teenagers stuck in the same repeating day team up to map every strange, beautiful thing that happens in it, turning the loop into something closer to wonder than nihilism.

But It's aimed at a younger audience and lands softer and sweeter than Palm Springs' desert-baked cynicism.

Source Code2011

Jake Gyllenhaal wakes up in the same eight minutes on a train, again and again, trying to stop a bomb — a tense sci-fi thriller built from the same repeating-time mechanics.

But It plays the premise dead straight as a thriller, with none of the loose, stoned comic energy Palm Springs has.

Before Sunrise1995

No time loop here, just two strangers talking their way into love over one night in Vienna — the same charge of connection under a ticking clock that powers Nyles and Sarah.

But It's a quiet, dialogue-driven walk-and-talk with zero sci-fi trappings, so if you came for the premise, this won't scratch that itch.

When We First Met2018no page yet

A lighter, more earnest Netflix spin on the same idea — a guy stuck reliving one night tries to fix his romantic history, tonally closer to a teen comedy than a fever dream.

But It's considerably slighter and safer, missing the strangeness and darker undertow that makes Palm Springs more than a gimmick movie.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time2006

Same premise, swapped into anime: a teenage girl discovers she can jump backward through time and starts abusing the power for small, selfish comforts, exactly as Nyles does before the cost catches up with her.

This beloved Japanese animated film turns the time-loop-for-convenience idea into something achingly sincere about growing up, missed chances, and the exact moment you realise you can't rewind everything.

But It's animated, in Japanese, and aimed at a teenage audience — a much softer, more wistful register than Palm Springs' desert nihilism and drinking games.

Triangle2009

Take away the jokes and the tequila and you get this: a woman trapped reliving the same boat trip, the loop revealing not comic despair but genuine horror about guilt, memory, and what she did to deserve it.

A twisty British horror-thriller that uses the same repeating-day mechanics as Palm Springs but drains out every laugh, replacing them with dread, paranoia, and one genuinely unsettling structural trick.

But It's grim, violent, and psychologically nasty by the end — nothing here for anyone who wants the breezy comfort of Palm Springs' tone.