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Palm Springs
Movie

Palm Springs

2020 • Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery

Woke Score
4
out of 10

Plot

While stuck at a wedding in Palm Springs, Nyles (Andy Samberg) meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the maid of honor and family black sheep. After he rescues her from a disastrous toast, Sarah becomes drawn to Nyles and his offbeat nihilism. But when their impromptu tryst is thwarted by a surreal interruption, Sarah must join Nyles in embracing the idea that nothing really matters, and they begin wreaking spirited havoc on the wedding celebration.

Overall Series Review

Palm Springs is a rom-com centered on the time-loop conceit, where two cynical wedding guests, Nyles and Sarah, are forced to confront their nihilistic outlook on life and commitment. The film’s focus is on existential despair and the redemptive power of shared human connection. The narrative is heavily humanist, with the protagonists initially mocking the traditional institution of a wedding before ultimately choosing to face an uncertain future together. The characters' problems are defined by their personal flaws and philosophical baggage rather than by identity groups or societal structures. Sarah, the female lead, takes intellectual charge of their situation, utilizing science to formulate the escape plan while Nyles remains initially resigned to his fate. The film features no significant themes related to racial politics, gender theory, or religious condemnation, focusing instead on a secular approach to finding meaning.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

Characters are judged by their personal psychological flaws and merits. The main conflict is existential and interpersonal, not rooted in race, class, or intersectional status. Casting appears genuinely colorblind without any political lecturing or forced diversity narratives.

Oikophobia5/10

The film initially presents the wedding institution and family structures as targets of ridicule and apathy, with Nyles and Sarah embracing hedonistic nihilism within the time loop. The protagonists' cynical attitude deconstructs home culture. However, the narrative ultimately moves toward the affirmation of commitment and mutual love over individual chaos, providing a mild counter-balance to the initial self-hatred.

Feminism5/10

Sarah is a highly competent character who is proactive, taking the intellectual lead by studying physics and formulating the scientific solution to escape the time loop. Nyles, the male lead, is introduced as a slacker and a nihilist who has already given up, creating a dynamic where the woman's intellect and drive save the day. The core resolution is the decision to commit to a romantic relationship, which prevents the score from reaching a higher anti-family rating.

LGBTQ+1/10

The primary relationship is a heterosexual coupling. The story does not feature the centering of alternative sexualities or a focus on deconstructing the nuclear family, as the plot is a riff on the traditional romantic comedy formula set at a wedding.

Anti-Theism7/10

The core thematic struggle is an exploration of nihilism and existential dread, explicitly presenting life as fundamentally pointless until human connection provides subjective meaning. The time loop's resolution is achieved through a scientific, non-spiritual, and purely secular process developed by Sarah. The solution avoids any appeal to objective truth, faith, or transcendent moral law.