Dojini.com is fascinated by parallel universe stories. Small fact: dōjini means “at the same time” in Japanese. Started as a website to promote romance novels that depict our heroines, and their love lives in many parallel universes, those books continue as works in progress. We are still experimenting to create the perfect blend of romance, soap opera, and parallel universe. Think Sliding Doors meets All My Children in novel form.

Always on the lookout for works in this sub-sub-sub-genre, today we highlight the delightful and entertaining “Palm Springs” – a movie starring Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg. The team behind this flick have done a charming update on the time loop premise. The Great Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day perhaps the quintessential example, Palm Springs feels thoroughly modern and original.

If you are a parallel universe purist, you will scoff and affirm this is not a parallel universe film. It is a time loop. Yes. That is true. But as we see each day unfold, over and over and over again, we are provided fascinating details that would assuredly impact the days to come in each universe. Morsels of creative deliciousness weave a perfectly crafted story. Take it from me, a fledgling author who has been attempting this for years, it is not easy.

The writer of Palm Springs – Andy Siara– is a genius. Not only because of the parallel universe/time loop details that emerge bit by bit from beginning to end, but because he has also written us a deeply flawed heroine who transforms, as all great heroines should. And we love Samberg’s character, Nyle, somewhat inexplicably, but we love him nonetheless. Maybe it is his wry humor, but I think it could be his inherent vulnerability. 

And to top it all off, as opposed to Murray’s Groundhog Day hero, Samberg is not going through this alone. This gives us not only our assassinator antagonist, but a realistic and compelling love story. Yep. We are Andy Siara fangirls now….

You can check out Palm Springs on Hulu.