I’m always surprised at how hard it is to find a movie that’s engaging, not animated or for kids, not a Disney movie, and not rated “R.” Not that I have anything against kids’ movies, and most of my favorite movies are animated/Disney, so I certainly like those in general.

But sometimes I just want to watch a movie I haven’t seen before, with my mom. Those two requirements rule out a lot of films!

When browsing Amazon Prime, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Amazon, in its creepy wisdom, suggested that I might like to see a PG-13 time-loop romance/comedy/drama.

Amazon, it’s like you’ve known me all my life!

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is about a high school student who’s caught in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over (think Groundhog Day). It seems like nothing will ever change, until he meets a girl who shares his condition.

In fairness, I’m always up for a time-travel film. But I found the characters to be engaging, with Mark keeping an unusual balance between being sensitive/kind and, well, being like boys I’ve known. From almost the start, seeing him use his knowledge/time-loop powers to help others got me rooting for him. Margaret is a bit more prickly/cynical because “reasons” that get uncovered. I thought the moral was going to be along the lines of enjoying the beauty in everyday moments, as referenced in the title, and that aspect fascinated me, but there’s more than that.

Overall, I thought it was a fun and funny, touching, and sweet film. (Though a “time loop” film about being stuck in the same place, doing the same thing every day, probably hits a little different in month twelve of a global pandemic than it might have otherwise.)

As far as watching it with one’s mother, it does have an F-bomb and some drinking (more content detail here). But it was notably less raunchy then, say, 50 First Dates (which in retrospect, ah, may not have been a great choice of something to watch with my mother).

Anyway, I’d call this map a movie-sized, very good (if not perfect) thing. That’s all I could ask from a movie.

You can watch The Map of Tiny Perfect Things on Amazon.com.