This is all fairly predictable in the way so many films aimed at teenage viewers can be, with tons of pop culture references, an emphasis on going out and experiencing the quirky peculiarities of the world, and an insistence that self-improvement is the only way to move past trauma.
He knows where everyone is going to be at what time, but, 16-hours after he rises, when the clock strikes midnight, everything is reset and he wakes up in his bed again ready for the same set of events around him to play out. While he’s been able to keep himself entertained, Mark has wondered if there’s any way to end it. Enter Margaret (
Freaky and
Blockers star Kathryn Newton). Their first encounter is when she intercedes in Mark’s daily attempted pool rescue. Shocked by someone “changing the script”, he fails to catch more than a glimpse of her before she disappears.
2/12/2021
Ian Samuels adapts Lev Grossman s time-loop teen romance in an Amazon film starring Kyle Allen and Kathryn Newton.
The time-loop genre is old and diverse enough now I ve reviewed around a dozen, and I m sure I ve missed several that there s no need to describe each new entrant as like
Groundhog Day. There s the
Edge of Tomorrow-like sci-fi action loop; the
Happy Death Day mystery; the teen romp; allegorical horror film; and so on. Given the format s friendliness to low budgets, many of these pictures premiere at fests and disappear; but last year s delightful
Palm Springs demonstrated the commercial viability of one variant: the we re in this together rom-com, in which two people relive a looping day instead of one, facing the prospect of a will-they/won t-they love story that might actually go on forever.
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things Review: A Couple s Never-Ending Reality Re-spawns Beautiful Breakthroughs The Map of Tiny Perfect Things Review: A Couple s Never-Ending Reality Re-spawns Beautiful Breakthroughs
Two young lovers find joy in life s magical minutiae as they repeat the same day over and over in this familiar but appealing romantic comedy.
Courtney Howard, provided by
FacebookTwitterEmail
Running time: Running time: 99 MIN.
Before we’re even out of the opening credits of “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things,” director Ian Samuels and screenwriter Lev Grossman waste no time clueing us into its premise revolving around a time loop that will teach its teen protagonists to accept life’s little gifts and major detours. This John Green-lite fantasy for the young-adult crowd holds many sequences that sparkle and shine, but a few that stumble and sag as well. Yet the feature’s genteel, sweet spirit and radiant lead performances rescue it from forgettable mediocrity