Kevin C. Wong

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) [+]

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a Prime Video romantic movie. We start in media res with Mark (Kyle Allen) going through his day where it quickly becomes apparent he knows what's going to happen and is in minor ways helping people as he goes to high school and goes through his day. And that's because he's been reliving the same over and over and has eventually decided to improve things bit by bit memorizing what's going to happen and stopping unfortunate happenings.

But his day is interrupted when Margaret (Kathryn Newton) pass by. She's totally new and he quickly realizes she's going through the same thing. It takes him a few days to find her again and a bit of convincing that they should hang out. They're both unsure of how to end the time loop and to prevent boredom he convinces her to look through town for tiny perfect things, or really tiny perfect moments -- these cool little things that would delight a viewer but are very brief in duration, such as a bird coming down and grabbing a fish.

But Margaret has a boyfriend she always needs to meet after 6 PM and she is adamant about the meet and that Mark is not invited. Eventually that causes them to break up and Mark decides to branch out and do crazy things for a while, much like how Margaret lived her day. That results in a trip to the hospital where he sees Margaret heading in to meet her boyfriend. He follows and discovers Margaret's secret and realizes that this whole time loop thing is not about him it's about her...

It's a good romantic comedy. Enough budget to have a good soundtrack and production. Both actors are charming and it's nice that this is not a high stakes story. A movie I watched in two sittings which is pretty good for me.