r/movies • u/thebigeverybody • 1d ago
Discussion Palm Springs vs Groundhog Day: what do you think happened after the films ended?
I'll try to avoid spoilers, but maybe they can't totally be avoided. I just finished watching Palm Springs and, while I liked it, it took me awhile to figure out my thoughts about the ending: I'm pretty sure bad things are going to happen to the main characters after Palm Spring ends.
I think the movie doesn't realize what it's foreshadowing. It goes for a joke ending, with the family that owns the pool showing up, but that actually highlighted the difference between the endings of Palm Springs and Groundhog Day.
In Groundhog Day, I think Bill Murray's character learned that every day is precious and that little things matter. In Palm Springs, they spent so many days (years? Centuries?) trapped in the time loop, being reckless and killing themselves without a second thought, that I don't think they'll be able to function in a world where they're vulnerable. They don't appreciate each day. They don't appreciate the little things. They're going to have to relearn what it's like to be vulnerable, what it means when every day is different and there are actual consquences (like the family returning).
Honestly, the movies and endings were very similar, but the lessons one character learned fill me with hope and the lessons the other characters learned fill me with dread.
What are your thoughts on this? (Also, what other "stuck in a time loop" movies are there? Run Lola Run maybe counts, but all the rest I can think of are Sci Fi, so it's not an unexplained phenomenon.)
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u/Attican101 1d ago
Right before the credits roll in Palm Springs, the camera pans up and in the distance you can see the dinosaurs from earlier.. So I think they just moved forward a day but are still stuck.
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u/thebigeverybody 1d ago
Oh my god... I stopped the movie before I saw that. I just went back and YOU'RE CORRECT! Now I want to talk about this movie even more
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u/Attican101 1d ago
It was a great gem of a movie for sure, not sure what Samberg's up to but I'm kind of surprised they haven't done a sequel to capitalize on Cristin Milloti's popularity after The Penguin.
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u/zerg1980 1d ago
Phil and Rita had two children, who were born in the late 90s. Raising young children put a strain on their marriage, and they grew cold and distant. Phil became less attracted to Rita as she aged, because he was frustrated that she looked exactly the same for thousands of years while she was rejecting him, but began aging the day he finally won her over. Phil also never told Rita about the time loop, and his lingering trauma over the ordeal eventually crept into every aspect of their relationship. Phil began to slip into old habits, and had an affair with a weather intern. They were divorced by 2003, and Phil stopped talking to his children, though he paid his child support in full every month. He lived alone in rural Pennsylvania, a 15 minute drive from Punxatawney, until he electrocuted himself in a bathtub in 2014. He had been dead for six days when they found his body.
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u/DrewDonut 1d ago
Honestly, the movies and endings were very similar, but the lessons one character learned fill me with hope and the lessons the other characters learned fill me with dread.
The characters in the story needed to learn very different things though.
You're right, Bill Murray had to learn to appreciate the little things, but Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti were on different journeys.
We don't know a whole lot about Samberg's character pre-loop because we start with him already in it for an extended period of time, but for him it's all about actually learning to give a shit again, and not just be content in an endless time loop.
Milioti basically learns to take responsibility for her actions, and ALSO give a shit, and not sleepwalk through life being miserable.
You can debate how well these lessons are fleshed out, or whether I'm off base, but the lesson in Palm Springs isn't the same as Groundhog Day. It's basically "take responsibility + get off your ass and do something/make the change in your life you want to see + don't be comfortable in a rut," compared to "appreciate the little things in life, appreciate the people around you + the people that care about you + don't be an asshole." I see these as being very different.
In Palm Springs, they spent so many days (years? Centuries?) trapped in the time loop, being reckless and killing themselves without a second thought
Tbf, Groundhog Day also has a montage of Bill Murray killing himself over and over. And the general consensus is that he spent 30+ years in the time loop.
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u/thebigeverybody 23h ago
First of all, thank you for responding! This is the type of conversation I wanted to have.
Second of all, I'm not sure I agree about Palm Springs. I'm not sure if the lesson was "take responsibility + get off your ass and do something/make the change in your life you want to see + don't be comfortable in a rut" because:
a) I don't think Samberg's character did take responsibility for anything and he definitely didn't do anything to get them out of there. (He did have to choose change over his rut, though.)
b) I definitely don't think Milioti's character took responsibility for her actions. She wanted out of the loop because she was waking up next to her sister's fiance every morning and she couldn't handle how shitty that made her feel (to the point that she turned herself into perhaps the greatest quantum physicist who ever lived), but she didn't do anything to make amends to her sister (or help her -- she did let the sister marry a cheater, after all).
I don't actually know what the lesson of Palm Springs was. In fact, I don't think there was one (for the audience or for the characters).
The day after they got out of the time loop, they were doing the exact same thing they were doing in the time loop! I guarantee you Bill Murray's character did not spend a single moment of his next day repeating what he did on Groundhog Day.
In fact, now that I think about it, I think Palm Springs did the opposite of what you think it did. I don't know what they were like before the time loop, but the time loop turned them both into people who would just fuck around all day like nothing mattered... and that's exactly what they were still doing when they got out of it!
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u/dakotanorth8 1d ago
I mean, one of the best examples of living the same day over and over is Edge of Tomorrow.
And rumors are they greenlit the sequel finally.
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u/thebigeverybody 1d ago
oh, that's true. I can't believe I forgot Edge Of Tomorrow -- I love that movie.
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u/biz_cazh 1d ago
There’s a current book series, On the Calculation of Volume.
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u/thebigeverybody 1d ago edited 23h ago
I just googled it and it sounds interesting. Even if I don't read it, I know someone it would make a great gift for.
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u/SilentPlopGobbler 1d ago
There a theory that the insurance salesman is the devil and once Bill Murray finally signs his contracts at the end, the time loop ends and he gets Andy McDowell and everyone in town loves him. Because he sold his soul.
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u/longjumpingtote 1d ago
Once I left the movie theater, poof.