Here are some great films to watch if you’re feeling some déjà vu
Have you ever...ever felt like this? The characters in these films have, skipping through time and reliving moments over and over for various reasons.
For when you feel like the days are all bleeding into one, hopefully these streamable movies help you feel just that little bit better. Even if it feels like we’re living Groundhog Day over and over, at least we don’t have to dunk our feet into puddles and bump into that annoying Ned Ryerson every single day.
Here are some of our favourite movies featuring time loops.
Looking for the classics? These are Time Out's best films of all time.
Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are perfectly matched in this goofy comedy about (you guessed it) two people stuck in a time loop. While the set-up is familiar, there's still a lot of fun to be had – and it's mostly thanks to the killer chemistry of the film's two leads. Definitely worth a watch.
Watch it in Australia: Palm Springs is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Ok, yeah, duh. This is the film most people know of and reference when they talk about time loop movies. The film, which was released in 1993, stars Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Murray’s character Phil Connors gets stuck repeating the same day over and over again in the small town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania. I don’t know about you but continually waking up to Sonny & Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe’ is a great way to start the day.
Watch it in Australia: It's available on Foxtel Go.
Probably one of the most inventive action films we’ve seen in the last couple of years, 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom “I do all my stunts” Cruise and Emily “I’m the real star of this movie” Blunt. The plot follows Cruise’s army major character William Cage as he repeats a disastrous battle between armed forces and aliens called “mimics”. Blunt plays sergeant Rita Vrataski, who’s a celebrated hero after a battle in Verdun and who understands what’s happening to Cage.
Watch it in Australia: It's on Netflix.
Not a time loop film in the strictest sense, this 2013 Richard Curtis film follows a young English man who finds out the men in his family have the ability to time travel back to the past in order to improve the future. Domnhall Gleeson plays the awkwardly charming Tim Lake, who uses his “powers” to hook up with Rachel McAdams’ character Mary. Though this film seems like a straightforward romantic comedy (with a sprinkle of fantasy) flick, you’ll soon realise that it’s Tim and his relationship with his father James (played by Bill Nighy) that makes this film so special.
Watch it in Australia: It's on Stan.
Yes, this is another film that’s not technically about a time loop but it sort of is for Drew Barrymore. This 2004 film stars Barrymore as Lucy, a woman with short-term memory loss following a car accident that left her with anterograde amnesia. Lucy wakes up every morning thinking it’s the same day; her family decides it’s too painful to tell her the truth so they pretend it’s October 13 every day. That is until she meets Adam Sandler’s character, Henry.
Watch it in Australia: It's on Netflix.
Science-fiction time! Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this 2011 film directed by Duncan Jones, who is David Bowie’s son (!!!) and also directed the excellent space film Moon. Source Code has Gyllenhaal play US Army pilot Colter Stevens who wakes up in the body of someone else. His mission? To figure out who is about to bomb a train he’s travelling on by venturing into a “source code” simulation. Don’t worry, it makes more sense as you watch it.
Watch it in Australia: It's on SBS On Demand.
This horror-slash-thriller-slash-mystery-slash-comedy movie comes from the Blumhouse crew (behind Split, Get Out and The Purge) in which a college student has to relive the day of her murder and figure out who her killer is. Jessica Rothe plays the lead, Tree Gelbman, and even though the premise isn’t so original, you can tell the writers had fun with this tongue-in-cheek approach. There’s even a sequel, Happy Death Day 2 U.
Watch it in Australia: It’s on Google Play to rent for $3.99.
The Politician’s Zoey Deutch is the best part about this 2017 teen drama film that’s based on a 2010 novel of the same name. Deutch plays Sam Kingston, who is forced to continually relive the day she dies in a car crash. But as she repeats the day, she starts to unravel the mystery surrounding her death and reexamine how she lived her life.
Watch it in Australia: It's on Stan.
Remarkably stretching out the premise of a time loop over the course of an entire television series doesn’t get old – which is a testament to both the star, Natasha Lyonne, and the writing of Russian Doll. The story follows Nadia Vulvokov as she repeatedly dies and returns to the bathroom of a New York City house party on her 36th birthday. Nadia spends the first season trying to figure out what is happening to her and everyone else is desperate to know when season two will be released???
Watch it in Australia: It’s on Netflix.
There's nothing here to get you down: just nostalgia, hilarity, heart and a good dollop of hope.
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