REVIEW: ‘Same Day With Someone’ Spins The Time Loop Just Enough

Initially, Same Day With Someone seems like a basic time loop rom-com at first. Netflix is quite familiar with the genre. But this Thai Netflix Original, directed by Rangsima Aukkarawiwat and Yanyong Kuruangkura, puts just enough spin on the Groundhog Day-like story to differentiate it from the pack.

When Mesa (Jarinporn Joonkiat) was a kid, she wished to the Red Ribbon Goddess for two things: to turn her family’s mansion into a history museum when she grew up, and to have true love. Her wishes come true. But on the day of the museum opening, its prized possession, a national relic of the imaginary country Chinlin, is destroyed by a tourist. Mesa’s curator, Ben (Warintorn Panhakarn), takes the fall for her.

Same Day With Someone puts just enough spin on the time loop genre.

The incident is an embarrassment to Mesa’s whole family. Her father has massive financial ties to Chinlin. To make matters worse, Mesa’s fiancé shows up after the disaster to break things off. Everything is going terribly for Mesa until she wakes up the next day, and it’s the same day all over again. At first, she tries to stop the inevitable. But every way she tries to prevent the relic from breaking, something increasingly ridiculous happens to break it anyway.

Every time Mesa tries to run away from her fiancé or make him fall back in love, he still manages to find her and break it off with the same corny line. It’s a pretty dire time loop to be stuck in, so Mesa goes to Ben to convince him of what’s happening and get his help. Ben is supposed to leave after the museum opening to study abroad, but when things go wrong, he stays behind to help. He’s easily convinced that Mesa isn’t crazy and is, in fact, experiencing the day on repeat.

As the pair starts working together, Same Day With Someone’s first significant twist on the formula comes to the fore. Suddenly, Mesa isn’t alone in her time loop. Ben gets stuck in it with her. Having both characters stuck in the loop together makes for a fun spin on the genre.

Same Day With Someone has the most fun when Mesa and Ben are both stuck in the time loop.

This way, instead of having to deal with Ben constantly forgetting about the relationship he and Mesa are building, they get to actually just build it together. And instead of Mesa needing to repeatedly explain to him what’s going on, they can simply continue working to break the loop.

Same Day With Someone works best when they’re having fun together. In his nerdy way and in her pampered way, Ben and Mesa take some time to goof off and enjoy the infinite days they can spend together, slowly falling in love as they do. It avoids feeling trite because they’re both fully in on it the whole time.

Every time Mesa goes into a state of self-pity or self-consciousness, the movie drags to a halt. There is no reason why she should have sudden spells of timidness when she is otherwise so confident and knows exactly what she wants. It has to suddenly make Ben into some sort of romantic hero, even though there is already enough natural romance between them; it doesn’t need to be globbed on.

Same Day with Someone’s lesson stands out in the time loop genre for being less selfish.

The best trick Same Day With Someone pulls is how the time loop is finally solved. Most of the time, the protagonists would have to fix the thing that keeps breaking, or realize the error of their ways and reconcile. But Same Day With Someone mixes it up by making the catalyst external to either of them or the two bad things that keep happening to Mesa over and over.

There’s still a lesson to be learned for Mesa. She is a vapid and selfish character who clearly is due for a reality check a la the typical privlidged comedy character. But the lesson comes from nowhere. Instead of offering a plain and obvious conclusion, the movie does more than force Mesa to become introspective. She has to start thinking about other people, not just for personal gain, but also because it’s the kind thing to do.

Same Day With Someone seems like an average time loop romance at first, but a few subtle twists on the genre distinguish the movie from the pack. The dialogue and performances are just okay, but the movie never feels stale.

Same Day With Someone is streaming now on Netflix.