“Palm Springs” should be remembered as one of the more surreal rom-coms of our time. The premiere feature film of Director Max Barbokow exhibits a remarkable mix of wit and tenderness. The cast, starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and J. K. Simmons contributes to this blend, smoothly administering doses of both irreverence and vulnerability in all the right places needed to make the movie work. The screenwriting makes the actors’ job easier, though, as it provides rich character development and fantastic handling of a clever premise.

Note: Minor early-story spoilers ahead.

On November 9, Nyles (Samberg) attends a wedding in the titular Californian resort town. The unimpressive boyfriend of a bridesmaid, he’s shoddily dressed, frequently intoxicated, and openly bored with nearly everyone with whom he interacts, with the exception of Sarah (Milioti), the sullen maid of honor and bride’s sister.  Compared to her perfect, selfless little sister, Sarah is a disappointment to her family, and she rebels against their expectations of her. The two outsiders bond over their cynicism of ceremony and love in general. 

Then, the story’s genre shifts. After a bizarre night of questionable decisions, Sarah wakes up to find that everything is happening exactly as she remembers it from the day before. In fact, it actually is the day before, November 9, once again. Sarah confronts Nyles about her predicament. “It’s one of those infinite time loop situations you might have heard about,” is his reply. (Anyone who hasn’t heard about such infinite time loop situations should check out “Groundhog Day” or “Edge of Tomorrow,” both great films in their own right that implement the concept.) “Palm Springs” doesn’t belabor the point, since it has been done before. Instead, the film immediately starts to accelerate, introducing its own original wrinkles to the mechanic and then expanding upon them.

For example, Sarah quickly learns that Nyles shares her problem. The difference is that he’s already been trapped in the loop for a long, long time. Viewers learn more about Nyles’ various escape attempts, which in turn reveals more about the nature of the loop. One of the most entertaining parts of this movie is getting to witness the mischief that Nyles gets into once he resigns himself to being locked in time — he gets imaginative. Meanwhile, more truths concerning the wedding itself become exposed, and these affect the whole tone of the “pre-loop” narrative. Things get even weirder when another mysterious man (J.K. Simmons) appears in some iterations of the loop and not in others.

“Palm Springs” builds up to a rather crazy ride, and the movie somehow still finds room to invest in these characters’ relationship. It does so without shying away from its baggage, like fear and self-loathing—things that “linear” beings can certainly relate to.

“Palm Springs” is currently available on Hulu.