Image via Complex/Hulu
Yeah, you read that right: this week's "best of" is only one project, the new film from Andy Samberg that's on Hulu. Not to say that there isn't solid stuff out there, but best of the week? Sometimes the picking are slim.
Is that so bad? There can be a week, during a summer that feels off in a year that feels done, to have a week where there's just one fire release out the numerous streaming services and channels out there. Hell, think of it like this: if you haven't rocked with Palm Springs, let us tell you WHY you should check it out, then after the film is done, you've got the rest of your time to binge the shows you've said you were going to check out, or re-run The Office. Whatever works.
'Palm Springs'
Where to Watch: Hulu
Andy Samberg is one of this generation's greatest entertainers, a maverick if you will. They've become so commonplace that I feel like most people forget he, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer basically invented the SNL Digital Short, to say nothing of where they took it as the Lonely Island. And that extends to their forays into feature films too—Popstar is a cult classic. Alas, Palm Springs isn't a Lonely Island film per se: the trio of childhood friends-turned-innovators of contemporary comedy didn't write it, Andy just stars and produced. But when word hit from Sundance that it opened to acclaim and a record-breaking purchase from Hulu, that was all I needed to get hype. And the film, out today on Hulu, mostly lives up.
This is Samberg going for his widest range yet, trying on shades we've never seen from him. The humor is more acerbic and sardonic than the goofy, happy-to-be-here pluckiness we're accustomed to in a Samberg role, even building to downright nihilism at points. And he's opposite the great Cristin Miloti, who's been charming the mainstream with aplomb since she assumed the lofty role of Mom in How I Met Your Mother all the way through delivering an instant top 5 Black Mirror episode with "USS Callister." She can radiate good energy and seething self-loathing simultaneously with the best of them; hopefully this is the first of many leading lady gigs for her. Palm Springs proves both affable leads have more tools in their array than some might have given them credit for and delivers a unique, enjoyable romcom in the process. Must-watch. —Frazier Tharpe
