Palm Springs

Palm Springs. Max Barbakow. 2020. ⚁

[twenty minutes pass]

OK, this Netflix movie is the buzziest one around: Even people who seem like OK people have raved and raved about this movie.

STOP READING NOW FOR SPOILERS!

But as I’m sure that anybody’s aware that’s semi-conscious, this is a Groundhog Dag riff, only set in Palm Springs on the day of a wedding.

If I were to imagine… “Groundhog Day! In Palm Springs! With Andy Samberg (the guy from Brooklyn 99)! On the day of a wedding!”…

So far, it would have been precisely what’s happened on screen. It’s just so Netflix: The soft start, the gentle introduction to the concept, the way Samberg doesn’t just tell her what’s up but says “you don’t want to go there” so that they can film her going there…

It’s all so Netflix: You get exactly what you expect to get.

Although the guy with the arrows did surprise me; perhaps it’s going to take off after they’ve done a half hour of bringing the audience on board.

Let’s see!

[one minute passes]

Oh, now he spills the beans. NEVER MIND.

[twenty minutes pass]

OK, it’s better now. And I like that they’ve used the Patrick Cowley hit.

[the end]

This movie is about… fifteen? minutes of fun and then nine hours of sheer tedium. The bathos is only leavened by gauche maudlin scenes.

I’m saying it sucks, and if you liked this, you should be ashamed of yourself.

I’m talking to you, 93% of the 147 reviewers and you, 90% of the people leaving user ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

This was excruciatingly maudlin, and not an entertaining rom-com sci-fi melodrama.

SHAME!