Review - The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, May 14th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Encouraging you if you’ve never given before to make a first-time gift to support our work here. Because during this month, whatever is your first-time gift becomes a second- and third-time one as well.

What do I mean by that? So glad you asked.

Remember, we have longtime supporters who decided to honor WORLD’s 40th anniversary by providing a triple match of any gift by any new giver up to 40-thousand-dollars. So in other words, if you can give $100, one family has committed to giving a hundred more and another family another hundred. So your hundred becomes a three-hundred dollar gift!

So if you find this program helpful and you feel like you can support us, then just visit wng.org/donate to make your first-time gift of support today.

EICHER: Right, this is different from the end of fiscal year funding drive we’re doing next month where we ask our regular supporters to help us hit our budget goal.

Well, anyone can be part of that campaign. But typically, it’s our regular supporters who make that happen for us. What we like to do the month before is encourage those who’ve never given before to make their first-time gift of support.

And the matching program is a specific recognition that we do this together. No one expects anyone to go it alone. This is a team effort. So if you have the ability and you want to help strengthen the work we do here and ensure that we can continue it, as Myrna says, pay a visit to wng.org/donate. We’re grateful for whatever way you can support us. Thanks!

BROWN: Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Emily Whitten joins us today with a review of The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, now streaming on Amazon Prime. She says the film isn’t perfect, but it may be a good choice for teens and families looking for an entertaining movie.

EMILY WHITTEN, REPORTER: The first thing you need to know about The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is that you’ve seen this movie before. Think Ferris Bueller Day’s Off meets Groundhog Day with a side of Lala Land to spice things up.

I’ll let the handsome hero of the film, Mark—played by Kyle Allen—introduce the plot. He’s talking here to his best friend, played by Jermaine Harris:

CLIP: “Listen, we’re stuck in a time loop. You, me, everybody. The same day’s repeating over and over again. Like in Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow. Except only me and this girl Margaret know about it. But you won’t remember any of this because your brain keeps getting erased.” “Oh.”

So, yeah, Mark has been stuck in the same day for who knows how long. Long enough that when he wakes up each morning on the same summer day, he can predict when the toast will pop out of the toaster and when to catch the glass knocked off the table. He’s an astute reader of sci-fi books, so Mark does have a few questions about what’s going on and why—but mostly, he’s just having a lot of fun.

Viewers will, too.

CLIP: OPENING SCENE MUSIC

As the opening credits roll, Mark hops on his bike and zooms through his hometown streets. He cues a lawn sprinkler. He grabs a cup of coffee on top of a car, takes a swig, and hook shots it into a passing garbage truck.

The message here: Mark’s perfected his repeating day, well, except for the cute girl at the pool. No matter how he tweaks his approach, she still won’t go out with him.

CLIP: “Would you wanna hang out later?” “I’ve got something.” “Well, thank you for your time.”

Enter Margaret, the love interest, played by Kathryn Newton. She’s the girl learning to drive, bashing her car into other cars in the pool parking lot. Turns out she’s aware of the time loop, too.

CLIP: “Woah. Ok. I thought nobody else knew.” “Welp. Somebody does.”

After some work to win her over, Mark finally has a friend to share his day with. Soon, they point out to one another all the “perfect things”—the quirky, funny, inspiring things—they’ve discovered in this day, in their town.

CLIP: I mean, think about it. Most of life is junk. Just filler. And then there’s these moments when all the randomness turns into something perfect.

Eventually they set out to find—and make—more of these perfect moments together. A lot of the moments surprisingly involve kindness: They help someone find lost keys and keep a man from being hit by bird droppings. They never reach the level of Mother Teresa with all their good deeds, but it’s a joy to see them express God-given delight at helping others.

Mark is a wanna-be art student. And unbeknownst to Margaret, he draws a map of all the perfect things in their repeating day. Soon, Margaret discovers his secret.

CLIP: “It’s a work in progress.” “You made a map of everything, the whole day.” “All the perfect things.” “It’s really good. Maybe you should go to art school.” “This is gonna sound stupid, but sometimes I think if I stare at it long enough, I’ll find something, like a pattern. I never do.” “That does sound pretty stupid.” “Woah, ok.”

The map becomes a critical element in the plot, bringing a bit of sci-fi magic to the ending. It may not make a whole lot of sense outside their fictional world, but like the clothes and soundtrack inspired by the 80s and 90s, it fits in a way.

Near the end of the movie, there’s a reveal that puts the entire story in a new perspective. It gives weight to the characters, and it shows that these teens aren’t just playing at life. Like Peter Pan, they wrestle with whether they want to grow up and face the imperfect things in their future.

CLIP: “We’re free, from getting older, from going to school, climate change, cancer, pink eye, Instagram.” “What about all the things we don’t get to do?” “Like what?” “Like grow up or I don’t know, be an astronaut? We’re saying goodbye to the rest of our lives. We’ll never do anything that takes longer than 16 hours.”

The theme of living for others comes back again in the climax, especially for Mark.

CLIP: I thought it was a love story and I was the hero. But it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t my story at all.

Director Ian Samuels says he hopes viewers will come away inspired.

IAN SAMUELS: There’s so much negativity in the world. In politics and in internet interactions. I really hope that people take a minute to just reflect on all the tiny perfect things that are around us all the time. And if everybody would do a little bit more of that, that would be a great thing.

That’s not to say this is a perfect movie. It’s rated PG-13 for a reason. A few times characters use foul language or crudely joke about sex outside marriage. And a couple of times, Mark and Margaret drink alcohol while alone together. That said, in terms of physical contact, this film is quite restrained. We only see one passionate hug and kiss, and it’s not graphic.

Mark is right: he’s not the hero of his story. But only Christians know the real hero of every story—Jesus. If we want to live a life of courage and kindness, he’s the only map that will get us there.

That makes this light-hearted rom-com a bit like bubble gum—mostly light and sweet, but good to chew on.

I’m Emily Whitten.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.