The Movie: The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
The Director: Ian Samuels
The Cast: Kathryn Newton, Kyle Allen, Jermaine Harris, Anna Mikami, Josh Hamilton, Cleo Fraser
The Story: The film tells the story of quick-witted teen Mark, contentedly living the same day in an endless loop whose world is turned upside-down when he meets mysterious Margaret, also stuck in the time loop.
The Review:
Sometimes you just want a fun, romantic comedy that takes you away from the world for a while and, for me, this movie was exactly all of it that in some of the best ways possible. The performances from Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen are spot on perfect for this type of movie and it has a lot of throw back feels and vibes like it could have come straight out of the 80's. Even the opening scenes of the movie have such a fun, feel good vibe to them and it really sets the tone for everything that follows.
Over the past few years, Groundhog Day style time loop movies have almost become a genre unto themselves thanks to The Edge of Tomorrow, The Incredible Shrinking Wknd, Koko-di Koko-da, Happy Death Day, and Palm Springs being the most recent example. Each of the stories plays off of a similar premise about having to relive the same day over and over until the person or persons gets everything right and learns valuable lessons along the way. Every single one of these movies owes a huge debt to Bill Murray as his performance in Groundhog Day is really something special and will always be used as the measuring stick for other to follow.
One of the things I noticed right away while watching this movie is Kyle Allen seems to have that something special, that movie star magic, and if this performance is any indication, he should be set up to have a long and successful career as a leading man. This is the first of anything I have seen him in and everything about him is just so likable and welcoming which might be inherent to the specifics of the character but it also seems to just be who he is as well. Kathryn Newton is also pretty special in this movie and I'm excited that she will be adding her name to the unbelievable roster of talent associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe when she takes over the role of Cassie Lang in the next Ant-Man film.
I will say that this movie takes a lot of liberties and bends logic wherever possible to make the story work but none of this is any big deal because it's a fantasy, science fiction time loop story so who cares about making sure every little plot detail makes perfect sense. The point of this movie is just to enjoy a fun story that takes you on a sort of fairy tale adventure involving two teenagers who you know are going to fall in love at some point so just roll with it. I mean, if you start thinking about just how long each of the characters have been in this time loop to have accomplished the things that they do and learn the things that they know, your brain might just short circuit so best to just set that aside and enjoy.
The Verdict:
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a really fun time loop fairy tale teenage love story that worked for me on just about every level. This is a movie you can just kick back and fall in love with without much effort so definitely give it a shot if you're into that sort of thing.
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