User reviews

It's quite a long movie for the content that is on offer. I found myself lagging after 45 minutes and never really regained the level of interest that I experienced at the start of the movie, and indeed, my interest wanned considerably after that.

Its not really a science fiction movie at all, more of a drama initially burgeoned with a science fiction narrative. The goundhog day theme is excercised fairly well and even though I rolled my eyes a little when this came into play in fairness its done well and doesn't give you that sense of fermented nostalgia that normally detracts from a screenplay.

I think the movie is half an hour too long, and the script and story needs to be condensed into something that doesn't cause your attention to stray and your patience to wear a little thin. Although Mary Louise Parker is pretty good, I found Ayo Edebir's style of delivery painful to experience. Her hesitant, stumbling, deliberately inarticulate manner of portraying natural interactioon is overplayed and irritating. I found the exact same issue with her portrayal of Sydney in 'The Bear' so this certainly seems to be a characteristic of he acting style rather than one of direction. There are no stand out performances here, the meterial is handled competently but never really ventures far above mediocre.

The 8-bit styled score thats overlayed throughout sections of this movie will give you flashbacks of you early Atari and Sega game systems and repeatinig piano sequences are a little threadbare in some places. It becomes noticeable at times, but its just another one of the poor factors at play which don't bode well for an viewing experience.

All this said, the main issue I found is the movie just drags and is without the excitement or key development events that are really needed to keep it interesting. A bunch of stuff happens but nothing signficant or essential that couldn't be omited without detriment. Its also worth mentioning that there is no big payoff or resoution in the ending, which isn't what you'd normally expect in with this type of repeating history endevour.

So, all that said, it's not a bad movie its just a bit... meh. It was interesting enough for me to watch to the end, (primarily because I wanted to see what eventually happened) but not good enough for me to be anything more than moderately interested after the first 20 minutes. It certainly works way better as a drama than a sci fi, but I think a bit of focus would probably have gone some way to making it a better production.

Truthfully there just isn't any payoff in watching this, it's a drama but without the emotional depth to bring it to the fore, its has a sience fiction theme, but witout any substance or investment in the science to peak the interest, and in all honesty you're better off giving it a miss.

5/10 from me.

Yet another twist and turn on the original Groundhog Day 1993 (on my IMDb list of all-time greats). Here writer/director Bernardo Britto takes advantage of Mary Louise Parker's considerable abilities at relating to audiences, and making even the commonplace seem uncommon. Parker, who did many femme fatale roles in her younger days, has legitimate skill in comedic or semi-comedic roles (for example, RED 2010) -- making her a solid choice for the role of a world-weary woman with a fatal illness somehow caught up in a time loop, and reliving the same week over and over. (Parker is 60 playing a 55 year old). Yet, as was the case with Bill Murray in GROUNDHOG DAY, the story is less about the mysteries of the universe and more about the mysteries of the people we share the universe with. The almost 2-hour romp may not be something you will remember for the rest of your own days -- although it definitely has aspirations along that line. But it does entertain while it makes you ponder. Recommended. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Generally a fan of low budget indie high concept sci-fi movies especially ones that are interested in time travel. Going by the casting of Ayo (one of the most employed movie actors in the industry right now) it was understood that this would lean more towards the comedic aspect rather than something like Coherence or Time Crimes that investigates the scifi premise indepth.

This movie however fails to be a good ide driven scifi movie and as a comedy, even with a runtime of 1hr and 50 mins this feel thrice as long especially with the 2nd half of the film dragging excessively.

Just straight up avoid it.

Greetings again from the darkness. Writer-director Bernardo Britto has delivered a modern-day cinematic rarity: a Science Fiction film without overblown special effects. Time travel is a vital part of the story, but at its core, this is a film about human emotions, and it has quite a message for viewers.

Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds") stars as Zoya Lowe, a quantum physicist and our story's time traveler. Only this isn't the kind of time traveler you are thinking of. Zoya neither travels back to medieval times nor forward to some future high-tech civilization. See, the magic pills she found as a kid only take her back 5 days. This is less THE TIME MACHINE (1969) and more GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) ... without the laughs or Ned Ryerson.

Zoya has been diagnosed with 'a black hole growing in her chest.' Now, I'm not sure if that diagnosis is an actual medical affliction or rather a metaphor, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Zoya has been given a week to live, which means with those pills, she's forced to re-do every day since her diagnosis in hopes of discovering what the pills are and how they work. To do this, she collaborates with Paula (Ayo Edebiri, "The Bear"), a community college science student with access to the campus lab. For some reason, this particular lab hosts an extreme sci-fi secret that Zoya and Paula believe can help solve the mystery.

Part of the gag here is that Zoya must re-live the terminal diagnosis, blow out the candles on her early birthday cake, and then convince Paula to assist over and over again. As Zoya goes through her daily re-dos, the supporting cast around her consists of Carlos Jacott as her husband, Hannah Pearl Utt as her daughter, Eddie Cahill as a brilliant scientist, Fern Katz as her assisted-living mom, and Harris Yulin as her old college professor. We may overdose on the electronic music that plays through most of the movie, but there is a terrific message here - being there for others is so important, and we should focus on what really matters in this all-too-short life.

In theaters and on Digital beginning September 20, 2024.

It's an alluring premise - time traveling via medication and a woman who is fighting for her life to figure it out. However, the story fails to capture my attention and keep me glued to the screen which is really surprising because I thoroughly enjoy time travel movies. It's very slow paced and there's an introduction of a "minor" character who seemingly has the wherewithal to explain the structure of this time travel device. He does not otherwise fit in with the story. The scene has some other very basic examples of technology. Surely if we are traveling back in time, we can move past older equipment and floppy disks in a community college. The main character has a terminal condition and it's just a long drawn out story of her being selfish and sassy to everyone, including her lab assistant, her family and strangers from her present and past. Go ahead and skip this one.

In Miami, the physicist Zoya Lowe (Mary-Louise Parker) is terminal with a black hole on her chest. She has only one-week life and her husband Donald (Carlos Jacott), her daughter Jayne (Hannah Pearl Utt) and Jayne's fiancée Morris (Chris Witaske) bring her home to spend her last days comfortably with her family. However, when Zoya bleeds indicating that she will die, she goes to the bathroom and swallows one mysterious pill that she found when she was twelve and returns five days back in her life. Now Zoya wants to research how she could return further and make others choices in life. When she meets the graduation student Paula (Ayo Edebiri), she teams up with her to analyze the pill for several five days but goes nowhere. But when she goes to Princeton to meet her former brilliant university mate Mark (Eddie Cahill) and his son later, she reflects on her life and concludes she has made her best alternative.

"Omni Loop" (2024) is a melancholic sci-fi, developed in slow pace and very dramatic. Mary-Louise Parker is a great actress, but it is sad to see her injected with Botox in her face the way she is. The plot is good, and Zoya Lowe sees that an alternate life should not be what she is looking for. Another excellent point is the soundtrack by the Brazilian Taiguara singing "Viagem", written and composed by him. Taiguara was born in Montevideo, Uruguay during a tour of his parents but grew up in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and was exiled in London, Spain, Paris and Afrikan countries during the Brazilian military dictatorship. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available.

A very tedious movie with a theoretically interesting premise, but super badly executed. The problem is not with Marie Louise Parker who acted soporifically beautiful, but with the whole ensemble cast, family and especially that "partner" of hers who was terribly chosen. The professor was the better and more interesting character with little screen time.

That's not a sci-fi movie, that's a philosophical drama with an ounce of science-fiction.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 5
• Production value/impact: 4
• Development: 7
• Realism: 4
• Entertainment: 1.5
• Acting: 6
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 5.5
• VFX: 3
• Music/score/sound: 4
• Depth: 6
• Logic: 2
• Flow: 1.5
• Sci-fi/drama: 4.5
• Ending: 3.

First off, let me give an honest up front detail about my review process: This film is really a 7.5 to me, but i rounded up instead of down like i usually do, because i feel this movie is trapped between a rock and a hard place.

This is NOT an action, or adventure film, at all, like most big Sci-fi. Kinda barely even a sci-fi film, I prefer to call it Speculative Fiction, but most of all its a drama, while also not being exactly what that implies. This movie isn't a "Family drama" but it does focus in on familial bonds, its definitely not a comedy, but it stars relatable comic actors who inject a bit of levity into the situations. Its not any of those genres But it has elements of them all. (except, to be clear, action and adventure).

To me this belongs in a genre I really love that I'm calling "Meta-Modern Speculative Fiction", and the easiest comparison is basically ALL the films of Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche NY, Being John Malkovich), but others that I've loved are: Visioneers, Donnie Darko, Southland Tales, Sorry to Bother You, The Lobster, Poor Things, Get Out, Nope and the Tv Shows Legion, The Last Man on Earth, Maniac, I am a Virgo, and Devs. I could list a ton more but im getting away from the point.

All this type of media tends to take a Speculative fiction concept, usually with some surreal mystery/thriller element, and apply those to a character drama, with a philosophical and/or psychosocial tone. They tend to defy genre convention by combining Elements of those genres and others, and an often wildly oscillating emotional undertone, conjuring disparate negative and positive associations along the way.

In this case its mostly a time travel character drama, a little mystery thriller, and a peppering of other momentary vibes. It obviously shares a lot of tropes with Groundhog day but it tackles those in a totally different way that fans of Time Travel narratives will appreciate because it compresses a lot of the classic moments with clever editing techniques that fans of film editing will also love.

Give it a watch if that sounds good, and if you already but you were expecting a different movie, please don't rate it poorly because it didn't match expectation, a lot of people like me want to see movies like this, and when the weirder movies tend to get downvoted due to being misunderstood it just gets tougher to find and support films like this.

Since Groundhog Day I'm done with movies where the characters relive the same day over and over again. It's been done and redone more than once and so the element of surprise is just not there anymore. In Omni Loop Mary-Louise Parker relives a week instead of a day but it's still the same feeling of déjà-vu. She still looks good considering her age and is not a bad actress but this movie is certainly not the best one she's been in. To be honest I got bored pretty quick and it didn't get better towards the end, on the contrary it got worse. I see the movie is also categorized as a comedy. Maybe somebody can explain me the comedy because I didn't laugh once. One day later I already forgot everything about this movie, that's how good it was.

I just came here to say that, because another reviewer started by talking about Sally Fields... either she is extremely wrong, or I watched a different movie.

As for the one I watched with Elizabeth Perkins, not Sally Fields...was a bore fest as everyone else mentioned same idea of Groundhog day, but this wasn't funny.

It pretended to be one of those "brainy" movies that let you thinking about meaningful things, but that's it... just pretentious.

One of the things that annoys me from many Hollywood movies is they not consider the people who live in the location they shoot the movie.

I know that nobody cares because they don't live in the location, but in this case I do...and that cute scene with the rhino, is done in a park with CGI not a zoo.

Did I mention that Sally Fields doesn't work in this movie?.

I came across this film as a Sci-Fi watcher. Hmmm. Not really sci-fi tbh. I didn't whatch all of it at 1.0 vlc speed but it is a well made movie. I had to look up "where do I know her from"?:Ayo Edebiri - I should know here from shed loads (imdb) but for me it was the first series of The Bear. It was As soon as I realised the I was in Punxsutawney I didn't care about dying of cancer. Roll this film on. Feck the clock ticking. Life is short, let me enjoy it. I'm not giving anything away but the ending was like a K. Series - heart warming and I'm glad I gave it my time.

3/5 - 1 why, 2 good try ,3 well done, 4 enjoyed might watch again, 5 oh gosh this will be watched again: It's a wonderful life, Whiplash I won't watch again but it doesn't deserve a 3. Fab filming and acting throughout. It's life. Well done and thanks to all involved.

If you're looking for something absolutely slow a depressing to watch....look no further.... I normally enjoy both of the main actresses but this was an utter let down and turned into a real chore to get thru to the point I fast forwarded the last 25 mins or so. And if I'm being even more honest I'm struggling to come up with to words to finish this review....it's supposed to be a sci fi movie? I feel like the writer or writers were either depressed when they wrote it or just self absorbed....this is time I really wish I could get back and I completely understand why it has such a low rating...this movie is really a bummer of a movie.

I am such a sucker for a good sci-fi movie especially when it involves time travel. The setup and conundrum you get within the first 10 minutes. You only have to listen to the doctor giving Zoya her prognosis to understand that we are going to be stretching reality a little bit so enjoy the ride. The use of the Groundhog Day time travel concept is not original. The use of it to save a life is not original. The message that it presents about parenthood and the choices one makes along the road of life however are wholly its own. Beautiful storytelling and the characters are well rounded and multi dimensional. As a fan of fantasy storytelling mixed with sci-fi tropes I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly.

Excellent and often strange look into our human lives and how time impacts them, the fear of death, and what is worth spending our time doing.

There's a slew of films lately that seem to be exploring motherhood in a smart SciFi manner. This is one of them. Mary Louise is a mom who is at the end of her life questioning what was life's meaning. There the movie takes a heavy magical SciFi tone that is more dedicated to symbolizing our struggles with significance than saying anything scientifically significant.

This is a great framing device and gimmick. Everyone seems to be handling the script well and it keeps a sort of charming patter as we discover why motherhood is the purest form of immortality.

Solid movie worth the suspension of disbelief to watch.

Possessing profound philosophical, metaphysical and theoretical scientific knowledge can provide us with unique insights into the nature of existence and how reality comes into being, and aspiring to the attainment of that wisdom is undoubtedly a noble and worthwhile goal. But, in all truthfulness, what good is that knowledge if we lack the practical, plainspoken common sense to know what to do with it, particularly when it comes to shaping the destinies of our own lives? Does such a lofty objective truly lead to meaningful satisfaction and genuine fulfillment? Those are the questions faced by fifty-something writer and scientist Zoya Lowe (Mary-Louise Parker) when confronting her impending mortality, an outcome she's successfully been able to circumvent by employing novel means to avoid it. The catch, however, is that she can only use these enigmatic measures to rewind the clock of her life by a week, a pattern that keeps repeating nearly identically in each case. They may help her stave off death, but do they produce an innately satisfying result? And why can she only go back in time for one week - why not longer and why not past the same end point in each case? After becoming bored with this endlessly repeating scenario, she decides to pursue a different course by launching an investigation into the mechanics of time travel with the aid of an ambitious laboratory assistant (Ayo Edibiri) with whom she has an unexpected chance encounter. However, once their work begins, they come no closer to finding a solution, prompting Zoya to engage in some heavy-duty introspection about such issues as did she make the most of her life up to the start of her final fateful week and what, in fact, constitutes the nature of bona fide corporeal fulfillment? Indeed, she must ask herself, what really matters in life and does her extensive knowledge truly help her understand it? Writer-director Bernardo Britto packs a great deal of genuinely thoughtful material into this intelligently conceived, smartly written, at times poetic story that explores heady sci-fi topics from an intensely personal, extremely intimate standpoint, something rarely seen in films from this genre. It accomplishes this without relying on an abundance of glitzy special effects, instead employing some of the most effective film editing I've ever seen, presenting vivid imagery with dazzling, dramatic, rapid-fire precision to captivate audiences and hold viewer attention. It also features what's arguably Parker's best on-screen performance, revealing a dynamic range of emotions from joy to sadness to vulnerability not often seen in characters in narratives such as this. There's a fair amount of well-placed comic relief, too, inspired by the narratives of films like "Groundhog Day" (1993) but without being an obvious copycat. Admittedly, the picture drags a bit at times in the second half (at least by comparison to the sustained frenetic pace of its opening act), but that's more than made up for by the emotionally affecting closing sequence, one that's sure to melt viewers' hearts. "Omni Loop" is unlike most other science fiction offerings that most of us have probably seen, but it's one well worth a look, especially for the lingering impressions it's likely to leave on us and the soul searching it's destined to prompt, considerations we should all bear in mind when it comes to the lives we create for ourselves, undertakings that we should strive to handle skillfully, with a sense of joy and an aim for achieving the greatest degree of fulfillment attainable.

This movie talks about depression and FOMO in a way that I've rarely seen before. The magical realism of it remind me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but instead of tackling the subject of falling in love, it delicately touches the look back on a life well lived when you're at the close.

A solid cast with two lead women that knock it out of the park in naturalistic scenes that don't fall into mumblecore. Editing is done with purpose to give you that Groundhog Day feeling of several lifetimes of recurrence, with fast cuts and comedic timing.

It's a beautiful movie that perfectly captures the wonderful mundanity of living for those you love.

This is Groundhog Day with Stranger Than Fiction vibes and the editing of Requiem For A Dream.

Ayo delivers and she has become one of my go-to's, that if she is in it, I'll see it.

I am a sucker for dry humor, science, fiction (and i would have that comma rather than science-fiction) indie, chef-kiss acting, world building, heart, family values, and doesn't even mind a heavy plot of mortality and addressing guilt.

Mary-Louise Parker, Ayo Edebiri⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Written, Directed, and Edited by Bernardo Britto

^WHAT?? I didnt even know that until I was looking at the details. Well, snap, snap, snap, man, you nailed it.

This is going in my permanent collection.

PLEASE, see it for the masterpiece it is. 5.5 is HEARTBREAKING.