The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

Director: Ian Samuels
Year Released: 2021
Rating: 1.0

High schooler Mark (Kyle Allen) finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again (a concept that's now completely overdone) until he meets Margaret (Kathryn Newton), who's also going through the same thing - together, they start keeping a list of "perfect moments" that take place during that day, from a turtle crossing the road, to a construction worker playing the piano, to an eagle catching a fish in order to find "the key" that unlocks "the puzzle."  It's as if John Green (or some similar YA author) re-wrote Groundhog Day: they try to come together and become a couple but she's distracted, he needs to learn how to "care about others" (which is odd, because he seems affable from the start) and she has to come to peace with (wait for it) her mother's terminal illness.  The need to constantly reinforce how solemn and 'heartfelt' as it goes on makes it kind of obnoxious - like similar movies for Generation Z - but the leads are at least ... chipper.