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There is an old belief that everyone is rewarded with the heaven or hell that he deserves. For Phil, the nasty, self-centered weather forecaster played by Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day," that hell reveals itself one morning in the Groundhog Capitol of Punxsutawney, Pa. He has journeyed there to do a remote broadcast about his namesake, the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, who every year informs the nation whether it will have six more weeks of winter.

Now the alarm goes off in Murray's bed & breakfast room, and he awakens to find it is . . . Groundhog Day, all over again. It will be Groundhog Day again tomorrow, too, and on the day after that.

In another sense, tomorrow will never come. Groundhog Day will repeat itself over and over and over again, apparently until the end of time, and Phil will be permanently condemned to cover it. He's trapped in some kind of time warp.

As Phil figures out the rules of his dilemma, we do, too.

His world is inhabited by the same people every day, but they don't know that Groundhog Day is repeating itself. He is the only one who can remember what happened yesterday. That gives him a certain advantage: He can, for example, find out what a woman is looking for in a man, and then the "next" day he can behave in exactly the right way to impress her.

Luckily there is a woman close at hand to practice on. She's Rita ( Andie MacDowell ), Phil's long-suffering producer, who has had to put up with his tantrums, demands, surliness and general lack of couth. As day follows day, Phil is gradually able to see the error of his ways, and improve his behavior until finally, to her surprise, a Groundhog Day dawns when she finally likes him.

The movie is basically a comedy, but there's an underlying dynamic that is a little more thoughtful. Like " Scrooged ," Murray's dreary 1988 film, this is a movie about a grouch in the process of self-redemption: A supernatural force is showing him his weaknesses.

Another movie that comes to mind is " It's a Wonderful Life ," although that film showed James Stewart how bad life would have been without his help, and this one shows Murray that people might actually have been cheerier without his contributions.

"Groundhog Day" was directed and cowritten by Harold Ramis , Murray's fellow Ghostbuster and a partner from their Second City days. The film is lovable and sweet. If "Scrooged" seemed to reflect a dour discontent, this one is more optimistic about the human race, and the Murray character is likable by the end. That's a mixed blessing, since Murray is funnier in the early scenes in which he is delivering sardonic weather reports and bitterly cursing the fate that brought him to Punxsutawney in the first place.

Formula comedies are a dime a dozen. Those based on an original idea are more rare, and "Groundhog Day," apart from everything else, is a demonstration of the way time can sometimes give us a break. Just because we're born as SOBs doesn't mean we have to live that way.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Groundhog Day (1993)

103 minutes

Bill Murray as Phil

Chris Elliott as Larry

Andie MacDowell as Rita

Directed by

• Harold Ramis

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Groundhog day, common sense media reviewers.

'90s comedy offers witty, sarcastic take on redemption.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Phil figures out that caring for and helping other

Phil spends most of the movie behaving in a smug a

The film features a predominantly White cast. Blac

A desperate Phil attempts death by suicide in a nu

Phil seduces women using pickup lines and innuendo

"Hell." Use of the middle finger in one scene.

Adults drink in a bowling alley and at a bar. A cl

Parents need to know that Groundhog Day is a beloved comedy starring Bill Murray as a smug and selfish weatherman who must live through the same day over and over again until he learns the value of caring about others and eventually demonstrates gratitude and perseverance. Although it's mostly a lighthearted…

Positive Messages

Phil figures out that caring for and helping others is the key to breaking the spell. The film encourages making every day the best one yet.

Positive Role Models

Phil spends most of the movie behaving in a smug and selfish manner, but by the end learns the importance of looking out for and caring about others. He learns how to be thankful for everything in his life.

Diverse Representations

The film features a predominantly White cast. Black actors play small parts, like a bartender, a band member, and a nurse. Female characters, including the lead, are mostly at the service of Phil's story.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

A desperate Phil attempts death by suicide in a number of ways: electrocution, jumping off buildings, diving off a cliff in a truck, etc. The death of an unhoused man that Phil tries to revive more than once and eventually takes to the hospital.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Phil seduces women using pickup lines and innuendo. He's shown kissing a woman on the couch and, fully clothed, in bed. There's a joke about how a woman sounds like a groundhog when she gets "really excited." Reference made to spending the evening reading the pornographic magazine Hustler .

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink in a bowling alley and at a bar. A clearly intoxicated character tries to drive his car. Cigarette smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Groundhog Day is a beloved comedy starring Bill Murray as a smug and selfish weatherman who must live through the same day over and over again until he learns the value of caring about others and eventually demonstrates gratitude and perseverance . Although it's mostly a lighthearted comedy, it also deals with depression, as we see Phil try to repeatedly take his own life. Characters drink at bars and in a bowling alley; one of the characters tries to drive a car while clearly drunk. Phil seduces several women and some kissing and innuendo are shown. There is one use of "hell" and a character is shown giving the middle finger. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (18)
• Kids say (72)

Based on 18 parent reviews

Great film, but should've been PG-13.

What's the story.

Cranky TV broadcaster Phil Connors ( Bill Murray ) and his crew are sent to tiny Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to report on the annual GROUNDHOG DAY celebration. A snowstorm strands them there overnight, and when he wakes up the next morning, Phil soon realizes that something strange is going on: It's Groundhog Day again. As Phil repeatedly relives the tedium of the same day over and over, he gradually learns to treat people decently. He also falls for his producer, Rita ( Andie MacDowell ), working every angle to figure out how to seduce her. Each defeat means a little more information -- and gets him a little closer to winning her over the next time around.

Is It Any Good?

This is one of Murray's most iconic roles. He shines in Groundhog Day , a mostly good-natured comedy that delivers lots of laughs and honest sentiment. Funny and sweet, the film has the right blend of comedy and romance. Although Phil isn't a particularly admirable character, the movie manages to make us care about him.

The story is simple but clever and uses repetition to great effect. Director Harold Ramis also uses sound and music to great comic effect. Phil wakes up every morning at 6 a.m. to the ironically cheery Sonny and Cher song "I Got You Babe." Groundhog Day is a complex, insightful comedy that mostly gets better with each passing year.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Groundhog Day plays with the concept of time and other movies that do the same, such as It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol . What is appealing about this idea?

Like It's a Wonderful Life , this film discusses suicide. What are the reasons people might want to attempt suicide? And why is it important to talk about mental health and having a support system?

How are the movie's overall themes presented in action, dialogue, and story?

Bill Murray plays the lead character in this movie. How is the character he plays similar to other characters he has played in other movies? How is the character different?

How does Phil learn and demonstrate gratitude and perseverance in Groundhog Day ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 12, 1993
• On DVD or streaming : January 20, 1998
• Cast : Andie MacDowell , Bill Murray , Chris Elliott
• Director : Harold Ramis
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Columbia Tristar
• Genre : Comedy
• Character Strengths : Gratitude , Perseverance
• Run time : 101 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : some thematic elements.
• Last updated : January 30, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Groundhog Day: the perfect comedy, for ever

I am holding for David O Russell, the Oscar-nominated director of Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter , who has agreed to talk about one of his all-time favourite films: the comic masterpiece Groundhog Day , released in the US 20 years ago this month. (It reached the UK in May 1993.) But the person on the other end of the line doesn't sound like Russell: it's more of a shrill whine, the vocal equivalent of nails on a blackboard. Then the penny drops.

"Ryan? It's Ned! Ned Ryerson! Bing!" After a prolonged chuckle, Russell drops his impersonation of Groundhog Day's irksome insurance salesman, a minor but intensely memorable character, and explains excitedly that he recently met Andie MacDowell, one of the film's stars. "She came to a screening of Silver Linings Playbook and I was, like: 'Oh my God, you were in one of the greatest motion pictures of all time.' She goes: ' Four Weddings and a Funeral ?' I said, 'No, Groundhog Day!' I would give my left arm to have written that fucking script. It's the only movie I think of from that period other than the ones by Quentin [Tarantino]. It makes me mad because I would so like to make a film like that. Oh man, I could go on for ever about that movie …"

We don't have for ever – isn't that one of the lessons of Groundhog Day? – but Russell happily slips in and out of voices and lines from the movie, his recollections punctuated by wistful sighs. This is what tends to happen when fans of Groundhog Day get together. On its release, the picture, directed by Harold Ramis, instantly took its place alongside long-cherished favourites such as It's a Wonderful Life and Some Like It Hot . It was a hit, if not a record-breaking one – Free Willy made more money that year. It wasn't even the biggest comedy of 1993: that honour went to the Robin Williams cross-dressing farce Mrs Doubtfire , which grossed more than three times as much in the US. But if one of the marks of a great film is that we can barely remember a time when it wasn't in our lives, then Groundhog Day passes that test with ease. It seems to have been with us for ever.

So, too, does its title, which has entered our language as shorthand for any period of intolerable monotony comparable to the one experienced by the misanthropic TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray). Phil is dispatched to the folksy town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual 2 February celebrations, which revolve around a groundhog supposedly foreseeing the exact date of the arrival of spring. "This is one occasion where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather," Phil sneers to camera. But when he wakes the following morning, it is 2 February again. And 2 February it will remain indefinitely, rebooted each day at 6am, until Phil can figure out how to arrest the cycle. The secret, it transpires, lies within him.

The film's timelessness can be attributed partly to its classical redemptive narrative, which has echoes of A Christmas Carol. "The redemption plot is one of the oldest story shapes," says Peter Baynham, the Day Today and Brass Eye writer whose script credits include Borat , Arthur Christmas and the forthcoming Alan Partridge: The Movie. "With so many movies, especially comedies, you can see the bones sticking out – you can see what they're trying to do. But Groundhog Day is such a clever, wonderful ride that you don't notice the joins. It's rare for a comedy to be funny and profound but also popular. Films such as Groundhog Day and Back to the Future sold a lot of popcorn, but they were insanely smart too. That's very inspiring when you're sitting there trying to write a comedy screenplay. Groundhog Day is living proof that it's possible to create intelligent comedy that still has a broad appeal."

Also remarkable is the film's refusal to reveal how Phil came to be stuck in his time-loop: there is no magical fairground machine ( Big ), no mantra ( Shallow Hal ), no curse ( What Women Want ). Nor does it specify the amount of times he repeats the same day. It could be 10 years or a thousand, however long it takes him to memorise the personal histories of Punxsutawney's townsfolk, and to become, among other things, a pianist, an ice-sculptor and a doctor ("It's kind of an honorary title," he shrugs). That radical withholding of information makes it something of an art film in mainstream clothing.

The artist and film-maker Gillian Wearing included Groundhog Day in her all-time top 10 when polled last year by Sight & Sound magazine. Her list included other enigmatic, if less multiplex-friendly, films – L'avventura, The Exterminating Angel, Last Year at Marienbad. "All those films reinvent structure and create a new conceptual framework that makes you understand them," says Wearing. "They share an almost surrealistic vision, and they pose philosophical questions. Groundhog Day is there primarily to entertain, but there are lots of really intelligent ideas in it. It makes me think of [the French philosopher Gilles] Deleuze and his thoughts on how change can arise from repetition. The film follows that to the letter."

Not that the studio pushed the screenwriter Danny Rubin to go big on Deleuze or to make the third act more Marienbad-ish. On the contrary, Rubin was urged to write a Gypsy-curse scene explaining the loop, which Ramis wisely never shot. The mystery has only fortified the film's magic. Its chances of longevity were helped too by a purge on period references. Rubin urged Ramis, with whom he shares a writing credit, to expunge any nods to the 1990s: "You've gotta take all this out," he said, "because this movie is really going to go on for years and years." Compare this with Judd Apatow's films, which are peppered with gags about early-21st century celebrity culture. Parts of Funny People and This Is 40 will be incomprehensible in 50 years' time, whereas our descendants in 2063 will have no trouble understanding Groundhog Day when they download it on to their frontal lobes.

Speak to any of the film's admirers and one word comes up repeatedly: perfect. "I thought straight away that it was a classic," says Wearing. "It's like a Billy Wilder film: other generations will understand immediately what's so good about it. To me, it's a perfect film."

Russell agrees: "It's perfect in its structure, and its ideas are so profound. Very much like Silver Linings Playbook, it's about someone fighting their demons using all that humble, difficult, baby-steps hard work that it takes, but doing it in such a hilarious way. It shows that until you wake up and get things right, you're gonna live that stuff until you die: the same emotional prison every day. Phil has to go through every incarnation of what he thinks love is until he really gets it."

Like Russell and Wearing, the former Monty Python member Terry Jones also included Groundhog Day in his top 10. "What's so remarkable about it," Jones observes over a pint in a north London pub, "is that normally when you're writing a screenplay you try to avoid repetition. And that's the whole thing here, it's built on repetition. That's so bold. The way they get through it is to short-circuit everything, so just when you think something is going to happen that you've seen before, the film gets to it before you and changes or abbreviates it in some way. I saw it when it came out and it just took my breath away."

It still does. I watched the film again at a London cinema last weekend ( on Groundhog Day itself , in fact), where it played to a rapturous sold-out crowd who hung on Murray's every poisonous putdown. (" Probably the best work that I've done ," Murray once said of the movie.) His performances since then, from his collaborations with Wes Anderson (including last year's Moonrise Kingdom ) to his Oscar-nominated turn in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation , each have as their springboard Groundhog Day. Before that, Murray was seen largely as a clown. After it, he was a complex actor with range. "It's the movie he was born to make," enthuses Russell. "It's his greatest role. His cynicism and eventually his sincerity feel so real because he comes by them so honestly. He proves that if you feel it from the feet up, there are no cliches."

If the impact of Groundhog Day is still felt on Murray's career, its influence on cinema in general is ever more prevalent. It legitimised fantasy aspects in mainstream comedy so effectively that stars such as Jim Carrey (in The Truman Show, Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty) and Adam Sandler (in Click and 50 First Dates) spent years trying to replicate its formula. Its imprint can be detected on films as diverse as Sliding Doors, The Family Man, Run Lola Run and the recent Safety Not Guaranteed. In 2004, there was an Italian remake, though the best thing about that was the title: È già ieri , or It's Already Yesterday. And Charlie Kaufman has also occupied the same philosophical terrain with films such as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (with Carrey again). "Look at everything Kaufman's done," says Russell, "and you'll see that Harold and Danny got there first." Later this year, Richard Curtis will try for the Groundhog Day effect with About Time , featuring a hero who can zip back and forth through episodes in his own life. In one sequence, he refines repeatedly his first night with a new girlfriend until he perfects his technique. Connors, never shy of using supernatural subterfuge for sex, would have approved.

"There have been a lot of messing-with-time movies where you can't help but see the influence of Groundhog Day," Rubin tells me. "There was Source Code , which was like Groundhog Day but with a bomb on a train. I quite liked that. Every time it happens, my friends say: 'You just got ripped off. I hope they paid you.' I'm, like: 'No, it's an homage.' It's not like I'm being erased. It's an honour. I always thought the premise could be explored a million different ways. I welcome all of these explorations; it's fun for me because I like to see how other people play with the idea. Basically it shows how ubiquitous it's become in the culture. It's getting harder and harder now to find anyone who hasn't seen it."

• Groundhog Day
• Comedy films
• Bill Murray
• David O Russell
• Romance films
• Andie MacDowell

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Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters to Groundhog Day - a career in clips

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My favourite film: Ghostbusters

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Groundhog Day Reviews

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 23, 2023

Chicago connections are many for the Bill Murray classic that’s funny, poignant and way better than sweet vermouth on the rocks, with a twist.

Full Review | Feb 4, 2023

As home releases and re-releases start to fall into a bit of an endless cycle, it makes a weird bit of sense that Groundhog Day would lack a certain excitement and feel like more of what we’ve seen, yet still bring about a little bit of joy.

Full Review | Jan 20, 2023

Nothing suggested that this would gather steam over time and emerge as one of the most respected comedies of the past 30 years.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 14, 2023

This delightful romantic comedy, directed by Harold Ramis, is rich in fantasy and unexpectedly funny twists.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 11, 2023

Groundhog Day is a Scrooge-like comedy that's surprisingly delightful. It poses a very interesting question: What would happen if every day were the same?

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 21, 2022

There's a purity to Groundhog Day that we rarely see in movies... It's civilized, as well as the perfect entertainment of the moment.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 21, 2022

This sweetly surrealist comedy is, arguably, Murray's most irresistible effort. Groundhog Day is a warm and rewarding story about reason, reckoning, and romance.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 21, 2022

Director Harold Ramis handles the situation beautifully. A potentially silly premise takes on Capraesque qualities and delights.

Groundhog Day could have been a dull one-joke film, but Murray and Ramis make it work by doggedly pursuing the implications of their outlandish premise.

This is without doubt the wittiest Bill Murray film ever, filled with verbal, physical and even thematic gags that satisfy on several levels simultaneously.

Groundhog Day is a charming and hilarious film. Or did I already say that? Anyway, it is worth repeating.

Full Review | Dec 21, 2022

What [Bill Murray] really wants is to be corny. He achieves his goal in this amusing, sentimental, sometimes slack but thoroughly entertaining comedy.

Groundhog Day might have been a mere gimmick movie, but it isn't; it's something better -- a gentle fantasy of both paralysis and liberation.

Groundhog Day is a fresh and inventive film filled with laughs and thought-provoking ideas. I loved it.

Occasionally, Groundhog Day buries its head in dumb-comedy clichés. But the film-makers have depended mostly on witty dialogue, and on the simple elegance of the premise -- which could be about anyone whose days all start to seem the same.

This is an exceptionally sparky film. It uses the medium of cinema as only cinema can be used -- to re-edit reality. It restores a fresh breath of fantasy to the generally stale air of the sitcom world.

Groundhog Day is an intriguing fable that almost overstays its welcome but never quite folds up under scrutiny.

Even at its most negligible, Harold Ramis' film is intensely cinematic, not because he is some kind of genius director -- he's not -- but because in the end it's down to film language whether the hero is in hell or in heaven.

Groundhog Day combines Saturday Night Live shtick with Twilight Zone weirdness, and when it works, it's hilarious... Two-thirds of the way through, however, Groundhog Day turns syrupy, ruining much of the fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 21, 2022

• Columbia Pictures

Summary Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer (Andie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman (Chris Elliott), TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. But on his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds hi ... Read More

Directed By : Harold Ramis

Written By : Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis

Where to Watch

Bill Murray

Andie MacDowell

Chris Elliott

Stephen Tobolowsky

Brian Doyle-Murray

Marita geraghty.

Angela Paton

Mrs. lancaster.

Rick Ducommun

Rick Overton

Doris the waitress, carol bivins, anchorwoman.

Willie Garson

Phil's assistant kenny.

Ken Hudson Campbell

Man in hallway, les podewell, groundhog official, tom milanovich, state trooper, john m. watson sr., peggy roeder, piano teacher.

Harold Ramis

Neurologist.

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Groundhog Day Review

01 Jan 1993

Groundhog Day

Boating a concept so simple you wonder why nobody had thought of it before (man is forced to live the same day over and over again until he gets it right), Groundhog Day is not only one of the finest comedies of the 90s, but actually remains fresh, funny and original after repeated viewings.

Bill Murray is on career best form as arrogant weatherman Phil Connors, who uses his predicament (repeating the smalltown meteorological phenomenon of Groundhog Day ad infinitum), first for his own ends (cue criminal activity, mass cake binges etc.), then to romance colleague Andie MacDowell and turn himself into an all-round perfect person.

Director Harold Ramis avoids sentimentality and smalltown stereotypes in favour of one genuinely hysterical set-piece after another and, perhaps best of all, offers no complex or meaningful explanation as to why his protagonist should be in this mess and simply allows the comedy to shine through.

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Review: A Star Is Born (and Born and Born) in ‘Groundhog Day’

By Ben Brantley

• April 17, 2017

Repetition is an art of infinite variety as it’s practiced by Andy Karl in “Groundhog Day,” the dizzyingly witty new musical from the creators of “Matilda.” Portraying a man doomed to relive a single day over and over and over again in a small town that becomes his custom-fitted purgatory, Mr. Karl is so outrageously inventive in ringing changes on the same old, same old, that you can’t wait for another (almost identical) day to dawn.

That might also be said of the bounteous surrounding production that opened on Monday night at the August Wilson Theater, which features songs by Tim Minchin and is directed by Matthew Warchus (collaborators on “ Matilda” ), with a book by Danny Rubin. Based on Harold Ramis’s 1993 movie , “Groundhog Day” reimagines a much-loved film about instant karma with such fertile and feverish theatrical imagination that you expect it to implode before your eyes.

Perhaps that accounts for the gremlins that have plagued this show in its previews. Mr. Karl injured his knee near the end of Friday night’s performance and finished the show with a walking stick. (His opening-night costume was to include a knee brace.) And during the critics’ preview I attended on Thursday, a technical glitch stopped the show in the first act — during a car chase number, if you please, of particularly intricate mayhem.

It sort of made sense. How many blazingly bright ideas can a single musical contain before it sets fire to itself? The 10-minute delay was a bummer, and I wondered if this cartoon-colored production, designed as a whirling wonderland by Rob Howell, would regain its momentum.

But then, hallelujah, the curtain rose again, and there was Mr. Karl, back in the driver’s seat (literally). And when he crossed himself, Roman Catholic-style, before beginning again the song we’d just heard — a drunken country-western rouser called “Nobody Cares” — he had us back in the palms of his never-idle hands. He had evidently taken to heart the show’s lesson that improvisation is the mother of redemption, a tenet surely to be tested by his injury.

[See news article : “Injured but Determined, Andy Karl Opens ’Groundhog Day’ ” ]

Such infectious quick thinking was also the hallmark of the leading man of the original film, which was written by Mr. Rubin and Mr. Ramis. I mean, of course, Bill Murray, a comedy star with a peerless gift for leavening snark with a pinch of sentimentality. You would think that in any adaptation of the movie, the biggest shadow would be cast not by its weather-predicting title critter but by Mr. Murray.

Yet while you’re in the presence of Mr. Karl, which, thankfully, is for most of the show, he unconditionally owns the role of Phil Connors. Phil is a burned-out TV weatherman who winds up, through a bolt of metaphysical magic, being forced to relive the same day in the snug little town of Punxsutawney, Pa. (That’s the home of the celebrity groundhog, also named Phil, whose Feb. 2 sighting, or not, of his shadow is said to foretell the duration of the winter.)

In translating this story to the stage, this production plies the bold but risky idea of making entrapment in a hick burg feel like being caught in an all-too-chipper song-and-dance show, the kind of musical that makes people allergic to musicals. The citizens of Punxsutawney are first discovered prancing and crooning in ways you might at first mistake for a parody of the sentimental earnestness of another of this season’s arrivals, “Come From Away.”

Think of it: Perky, folksy people singing, forever and ever, about the pride of belonging to “a little town with a heart as big as any town” on an endlessly rotating stage. And you thought the characters in Sartre’s “No Exit” had it bad.

But this show, like the movie that inspired it, is to Groundhog Day what “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” are to Christmas. And during the production’s two and a half very full hours, Phil gradually trades in his cynicism for a grateful acceptance of life’s simpler pleasures. These, of course, include the love of a good woman, who, in this case, is a morally grounded young television producer named Rita Hanson, charmingly embodied and sung by Barrett Doss, who provides ballast without being boring.

It’s Phil’s journey more than his destination that makes “Groundhog Day” such joy, as Mr. Karl — previously seen as the punch-drunk title contendah of the “Rocky” musical — gives many-splendored life to each faltering on the road to self-discovery. Anger, prickliness, outrage, wonder, godlike omnipotence, drunken what-the-hell exhilaration, suicidal angst, Zen-like resignation — Mr. Karl turns these different feelings into a replete gallery of self-portraits, drawn with both comic panache and genuine feeling.

He uses every tool in the musical arsenal, too, often to devastating effect. Even his antic dancing traces a precise evolution of character. (Peter Darling, of “Billy Elliot” fame, did the choreography, with Ellen Kane.) And his pliable baritone covers the waterfront of emotions, from sardonic, pattering blitheness (“Small Town, USA”) to heavy-metal despair (the paradoxically titled “Hope”).

The insanely talented Mr. Minchin writes songs in many shades, though he’s probably most at home where shadows lurk. As in “Matilda,” his undulating melodies and whip-smart lyrics tap into the brooding sides of the supporting characters, extending the reach of existential anxiety beyond Phil’s solipsism.

There are unexpectedly poignant solos for supporting characters, like the town beauty (Rebecca Faulkenberry) and a bereaved insurance salesman (John Sanders). And the riotous “Nobody Cares,” in which Phil goes driving drunk with a couple of barflies (Andrew Call and Raymond J. Lee, both hilarious), becomes an ingeniously staged exercise in hedonistic hopelessness. (Let’s pray that glitch is fixed permanently.)

Will Broadway audiences be willing to follow “Groundhog Day” into its darkest corners? (A repeated suicide sequence is a demonic doozy.) The bigger problem for many might be the plenitude of styles in which the movie traffics. The show is tighter and more consistent than when I saw it at the Old Vic in London (where the show and Mr. Karl picked up Olivier Awards). But it could still shed a number or two, including a long sequence in which Phil consults various fraudulent doctors.

But Mr. Karl is a very persuasive guide to the show’s mercurial moods. And as he maps out the many phases of Phil, New York audiences have the rare chance to witness the full emergence of a newborn, bona fide musical star. Thanks to his character’s successive reincarnations, Mr. Karl is giving not one but many of the best performances of the season.

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

4K Ultra HD Review – Groundhog Day (1993)

January 8, 2023 by Brad Cook

Groundhog Day , 1993.

Directed by Harold Ramis. Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott.

The modern classic Groundhog Day arrives on 4K Ultra HD again in time for its 30th anniversary (but not timed with the actual holiday, for whatever reason). This time around, Sony has added Dolby Vision to the 4K transfer and put the disc, along with the accompanying Blu-ray and a code for a digital copy, in a handsome SteelBook. The legacy bonus features are included too.

The stories that resonate for years, decades, and even centuries are the ones that wrap relatable human emotions in a tidy narrative package. It doesn’t matter if it’s a play as old and iconic as Romeo and Juliet or a movie as recent but still just as iconic as Groundhog Day .  

Yes, I really do believe the movie Groundhog Day will resonate for many years to come. Why? Because it’s a story about a self-centered weatherman, Phil Connors (Bill Murray), who gets stuck reliving the Groundhog Day holiday in small-town Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania over and over again until he finally learns how to be a decent human being. That’s as relatable as — and, yes, very similar to — A Christmas Carol .

Andie MacDowell plays Rita Hanson, Phil’s producer, while Chris Elliott takes on the role of cameraman Larry. The two of them take the job in stride, with Rita even remarking what fun it is to see a small town throw a party while waiting for their resident groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, to show his face and let everyone know if there will be six more weeks of winter.

Phil can’t wait to film what he sees as a pointless fluff piece and get out of there, since a higher-profile job at a more prominent TV station is waiting for him. When a blizzard hits town after the event and forces the departing crew to turn around, Phil finds himself waking up each morning to Groundhog Day all over again.

As he gets used to his predicament, he starts learning everything he can about not only the townspeople but also Rita, who he’s attracted to. When she realizes his ruse, however, he has to learn how to actually be a better person if he wants to win her over.

In the included 24-minute featurette, The Weight of Time , screenwriter Danny Rubin and director Harold Ramis both discuss the original version of the script, which opened with an en media res moment featuring Phil going through his Groundhog Day motions for the however-many hundredth time. (Rubin envisioned him being stuck in the time warp for thousands of years, although the film never says how long it actually goes on for.)

While that opening sounds intriguing, the final version of the narrative makes more sense to me. We need to be introduced to Phil in his original state before going through what is essentially purgatory with him, before he emerges out the other side, a changed man. I think that’s the best way to convey a timeless tale like this one.

Sony has issued Groundhog Day on 4K before, but they’ve teed it up again for its 30th anniversary in a SteelBook edition that also includes a Blu-ray and a code for a digital copy. My understanding is that the only thing that’s new about this edition is the inclusion of Dolby Vision, in addition to HDR, if that’s important to your 4K viewing.

To be fair, this isn’t a movie that really screams for the 4K treatment, since it isn’t the kind of film that you’re going to use to show off a high-end 4K setup, but I find some comfort in knowing that I own a copy of a classic film in its best-possible home video presentation. It looks excellent here, with an image quality that’s as close to the original theatrical version as possible. (I know, I say that about a lot of 4K discs, but I’m not sure how else to describe the current state of home video, since it has pretty much attained the peak of film presentation that aficionados have sought since the laserdisc days.)

As far as I can tell, the Blu-ray included here is the same one that’s been kicking around for a while, especially since it has the same complement of bonus features that have been available since the DVD days. It’s a bummer that no new extras were commissioned for this release, but what’s here is still a comprehensive look at the making of the film. In addition to the aforementioned Weight of Time featurette, you’ll find:

• Audio commentary with Ramis: The director is, surprisingly, not as funny as you might expect, at least during the beginning of this track, but he eventually warms up and gets into the swing of it. Since Ramis is unfortunately no longer with us, we will never get another chat from him, so it’s good that this track is still around.

•  A Different Day: An Interview with Harold Ramis (10 minutes): The director also weighs in on the film in this clip, which is more of a look back at the movie’s legacy than a “Here’s how we did it” kind of interview.

•  The Story of Groundhogs: a Real Life Look at Marmots (6 minutes): This is a (perhaps surprisingly) serious look at groundhogs, which are actually one species within the greater Marmota genus. (Who said you can’t learn anything from 4K Ultra HD reviews?)

There’s also a picture-in-picture trivia track featuring Stephen Tobolowsky’s Needle Nose Ned character, who pops up occasionally to offer tidbits of information about the film. A batch of deleted scenes round out the disc.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★   / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

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Groundhog Day

• A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
• A weather man is reluctantly sent to cover a story about a weather forecasting "rat" (as he calls it). This is his fourth year on the story, and he makes no effort to hide his frustration. On awaking the 'following' day, he discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and again, and again. First he uses this to his advantage, then comes the realisation that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing every day. — Rob Hartill
• Misanthropic TV weatherman/broadcaster, Phil Connors, is annoyed and despondent when he's assigned the job of covering the annual Groundhog festivities in the small "Hick" town of Punxsutawney - making this his fourth in a row. The only noticeable upside is his attractive and good-natured producer. But the real nightmare begins when Phil ends up reliving the same day (Groundhog Day) over, and over again. Unable to leave the town due to a severe blizzard, and with no end in sight, Phil struggles to find a way to escape (and ultimately make the best of) his seemingly hopeless situation. — S. Lagan
• TV weatherman Phil Connors is cynical, to say the least, and having to go yet again to Punxsutawney, Pa. on February 2 to see if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow isn't his idea of fun. He is grumpy with his segment producer Rita and downright nasty with cameraman Larry. He doesn't take the shadow business at all seriously but the next morning, awakens to find he is reliving the same day. Initially disbelieving and fighting what is happening to him, Phil eventually accepts that he will relive the same day over and over again. He uses the opportunity to acquire new skills - piano playing and ice carving among them - and soon becomes the most admired man in Punxsutawney. However, just how many times he relives the day is anyone's guess. — garykmcd
• Phil Connors is the arrogant and egotistical weatherman for local station WPBH-TV Pittsburgh. He has disdain for those with whom he works as well as for his viewers. But he has the most disdain for Groundhog Day held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which he is to cover for the fourth time in his career, this year with Rita and Larry, the station's new producer and cameraman respectively. Phil wants to get in and out of Punxsutawney as quickly as possible, but a snowstorm forces the threesome to stay an extra night in town after the Groundhog Day festivities. When Phil awakens the next morning, he is experiencing what he thinks is déjà vu. In reality, he is experiencing that Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney all over again. The same happens the following day and the following. As Phil relives that same Groundhog Day over and over again, he goes through a myriad of highs and lows. But as he comes to the realization that Groundhog Day may be his fate for eternity, he also comes to other realizations, such as that his actions have no long term consequences, but that knowledge, especially as it relates to Rita, can be a powerful and dangerous thing. But he is given opportunity after opportunity to get the day "right." — Huggo
• On February 1, self-centered and sour TV meteorologist Phil Connors ( Bill Murray ), news producer Rita Hanson ( Andie MacDowell ) and cameraman Larry ( Chris Elliott ) from fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9 travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities with Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog. Having grown tired of this assignment, Phil begrudgingly gives his Groundhog Day report the next day (February 2) during the festival and parade. After the celebration concludes, a blizzard develops that Connors had predicted would miss them, closing the roads and shutting down long-distance phone services, forcing the team to return to Punxsutawney. However, Connors awakens the next morning to find it is February 2 again, and his day unfolds in almost exactly the same way. Connors can change his behavior, but other people do and say the same things they did and said the previous day, unless Connors changes something. He is aware of the repetition, but everyone else seems to be living February 2 for the first time. This recursion repeats the following morning and the one after that, and over and over again. For Connors, Groundhog Day begins each morning at 6:00 A.M., when he wakes up in his room in a Victorian bed and breakfast. His clock radio is always playing the same song, "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher. His memories of the "previous" day are intact, but he is trapped in a seemingly endless time loop, repeating the same day in the same small town. After briefly trying to rationalize his situation, and then thinking he is insane, Connors takes advantage of learning the day's events and the information he is able to gather about the town's inhabitants, and finds that his actions have no long-term consequences for himself. He revels in this situation for a time: seducing beautiful women, stealing money, even driving drunk and experiencing a police chase. However, his attempts to seduce his producer, Rita, are met with repeated failures. He begins to tire of, and then dread, his existence, starting the day by smashing the alarm clock and professing the inanity of Groundhog Day as a holiday in his newscast. In a vain attempt to break the cycle, he kidnaps Phil the Groundhog. After a police pursuit, Connors drives a stolen truck into a quarry, causing both man and rodent to die in a fiery explosion; but the loop does not stop. He commits suicide several more times. He electrocutes himself, lets a truck hit him on the road, and jumps from a tall building (other attempts are alluded to) but mere death cannot stop the day from repeating. After he dies, he simply wakes up listening to Sonny & Cher in the same bed, on the same day, over and over again. He initially tries to seduce Rita by learning as much as he can on a daily basis. First he asks what she wants in a man: someone who is humble, kind, generous, courageous and sensitive; someone who likes children; someone who loves his mother and plays a musical instrument. He learns what she likes (rocky road ice cream, sweet vermouth, French poetry) and what she doesn't like (white chocolate) and pretends to share her tastes. This also fails consistently; in scene after scene, Rita slaps him before the night is over. However, he is able to befriend her in a more sincere fashion. He tells her of his circumstances -- how he is reliving the day over and over again -- and manages to convince her of the truth with his extensive knowledge of events to come, the lives of the Punxsutawney townspeople, and Rita herself. He opens his heart to Rita, and her advice helps him to gradually find a goal for his trapped life: as a benefactor to others. He cannot, in a single day, bring others to fulfill his needs but he can achieve self-improvement by educating himself on a daily basis. After seeing an elderly homeless man die, Connors vows that no one will die on "his" day and performs many heroic services each and every repeating day, including performing the Heimlich maneuver on a choking man and saving a little boy who falls from a tree. However, he becomes despondent at being unable to save the homeless man, despite trying to get him medical care. When he demands to see the man's medical chart, a nurse tells him "sometimes people just die." Connors replies "Not today," but he never manages to prevent it. Though the film does not specify the number of repetitions, there is enough time for Connors to learn many complex skills, such as how to play jazz piano, speak French, sculpt ice, and memorize the life story of almost everyone in town. He also masters the art of flipping playing cards into an upturned hat, which he offhandedly suggests takes six months. (According to Danny Rubin , who shares screenwriting credit with the director, the intent in the original script was for the time-frame of Connors' repeating days to be ambiguous, but longer than a single lifetime. The studio objected to this, asking that it be reduced to two weeks. Director Harold Ramis tried to leave the time-frame loop ambiguous as how many times Connors relives February 2, but it is strongly speculated by Connors (and the viewers) to be at least 10 years.) Eventually, Phil sees his own shadow, so to speak, and changes from an inconsiderate, callous egocentric into a thoughtful, kindhearted philanthropist, refining his understanding of human decency, which, in return, makes him an appreciated and beloved man in the town. Phil is able to befriend almost everyone he meets during the day, using his experiences to save lives and help the townspeople. In the process, he gets closer to Rita. He crafts a report on the Groundhog Day celebration so eloquent that all the other stations turn their microphones to him. After the big Groundhog Day evening dance, Rita and Phil retire together to Phil's room. They believe that if Rita is there, the cycle may be interrupted. He wakes the next morning in bed with Rita (they are both still fully clothed) and finds the time loop is broken; it is now February 3. Phil is a different person than he was on February 1 and, after going outside, Phil and Rita talk about living in Punxsutawney together. Connors suggests: "We'll rent to start." The closing song is "Almost Like Being in Love" from Brigadoon, a musical which also dealt with a village trapped in time.

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‘groundhog day’: theater review.

Director Matthew Warchus, composer Tim Minchin and the team behind 'Matilda' turn the much-loved Bill Murray screen comedy into a lavish stage musical.

By Stephen Dalton

Stephen Dalton

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On paper, the long-awaited musical remake of Groundhog Day has the DNA of a surefire hit. Based on the beloved 1993 movie, directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray , the show has been adapted by the same key creative team as the sensational stage smash Matilda , notably British director Matthew Warchus and Australian composer Tim Minchin . It already stands on the shoulders of two modern classics.

Release date: Sep 17, 2016

The plot is an elegantly simple, deceptively deep parable with a quasi-Buddhist message about the path to personal enlightenment (Ramis was a Buddhist). Phil Connors (Andy Karl) is a cynical, selfish, wise-cracking Pittsburgh weatherman sent to the small Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney on a snowy Feb. 2 to cover the annual Groundhog Day ceremony, when the eponymous little critter is fancifully invited to predict the end of winter.

Full of big-city arrogance, Phil gets his karmic punishment when he becomes trapped in a time loop, waking up every morning to relive Groundhog Day afresh in the folksy little town he despises. His initial reaction is angry disbelief, then riotous hedonism, then suicidal nihilism, before finally realizing that his toxic personality may be the real problem.

Co-starring as Rita, the TV co-worker Phil repeatedly attempts to seduce during their Punxsutawney exile, the Anglo-American Carlyss Peer holds her own well against the more experienced Karl. She also is arguably an improvement on Andie MacDowell in the movie — more sassy and less brittle, even if her character is just as thinly drawn.

Writer Danny Rubin sticks closely to the original screenplay he co-wrote with Ramis, even recycling many of the same one-liners, though he adds a few contemporary details like cellphones and selfies. But Warchus consistently tweaks the material to make it more theatrical than cinematic, deploying lo-fi methods to great effect, from hand-operated groundhog puppets to a car chase animated with model vehicles mounted on long sticks. Very inventive, and hugely charming.

Minchin’s songs are fizzy and jazzy, but not always up there with his sardonic, self-aware, verbally virtuosic best. For consistent tone and quality, Matilda still has the edge. A scathingly satirical ditty about New Age quack doctors seems an oddly incongruous inclusion with scant dramatic relevance, and was possibly shoehorned in purely because it contains zippy lines like “who needs enemas with friends like these?” And the rousing final love ballad, “Seeing You,” feels too anodyne for the life-changing emotional rollercoaster that has gone before, its pastel-shaded platitudes more Coldplay than Cole Porter. Indeed, the entire romantic chemistry between Phil and Rita never convinces.

That said, there are enough flashes of Minchin’s musical and lyrical genius to save Groundhog Day from sliding into middlebrow banality. Inevitably, Karl gets most of the sharpest lines, dismissing Punxsutawney as “all haystacks and horses where there should be golf courses,” and warning Rita “if you knew how deep my shallowness goes you’d be shocked.” Phil’s grand set-piece number about suicidal despair, “Hope,” is excellent both musically and visually, featuring a superbly staged coup de theatre involving misdirection and lookalikes.

Stephen Sondheim once mooted adapting Groundhog Day into a musical, only to conclude that such a project would be tampering with perfection. Warchus, Minchin and Rubin have neither ruined nor reinvented a classic modern fairy tale, but they have given it a fresh coat of paint and a lusty new spring in its step.

Venue: Old Vic, London Cast: Andy Karl, Carlyss Peer, Eugene McCoy, Andrew Langtree, Georgina Hagen, Julie Jupp Director: Matthew Warchus Book: Danny Rubin, based on the film written by Rubin and Harold Ramis Music and lyrics: Tim Minchin Set and costume designer: Rob Howell Lighting Designer: Hugh Vanstone Sound designer: Simon Baker Choreographer: Peter Darling Orchestration, additional music and musical supervisor: Christopher Nightingale Illusions: Paul Kieve Video: Andrzej Goulding Presented by Whistle Pig Productions, Columbia Live Stage, Matthew Warchus, Andre Plaszynski

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Groundhog Day: Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Iconic Movie

Posted: April 4, 2024 | Last updated: April 4, 2024

The 1993 film Groundhog Day, directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray , follows a TV weatherman covering the Groundhog Day events in a small town. He soon realizes he's stuck in a time loop, forced to relive the same day over and over again. The film has grown to become a cult classic over the years and is often described as one of the best comedy films of all time.

Keep clicking through for some lesser-known facts about Groundhog Day and leave a comment if you learned something new!

Bill Murray Wasn't The First Choice

Before Bill Murray was cast, both Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton turned down the role of the weatherman Phil Collins.

Although Tom Hanks was busy, he also didn't think that the character fit his personality. Michael Keaton didn't understand the script and passed on the role, which was a decision he later admitted to regretting.

Enemies With A Groundhog

Bill Murray ran into some issues with the real groundhog while on the set of the film. The groundhog managed to bite him numerous times.

Murray even had to go receive anti-rabies injections due to the seriousness of his injuries from the rodent.

Groundhog Day Has Different Titles In Other Countries

Because Groundhog Day is only celebrated in the U.S. and Canada, international countries had to translate the title differently. In Sweden, the movie translates to “Mondy the Entire Week.”

The German movie title is “The Groundhog Greets Every Day.”

A Family Affair

Bill Murray's brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, appears in the film as well, as one of the Punxsutawney groundhog officials.

This wasn't Doyle-Murray's first film either, as he had roles in Caddyshack, Christmas Vacation, and JFK, among many others.

They Wasted Three Days Of Shooting

In a scene that was eventually cut from the film, Murray's character, Phil, gives himself a mohawk, paints his room, and goes crazy with a chainsaw.

Filming this scene took three days, even though none of it made it into the final cut.

Snow In The Spring

While the film is supposed to take place on February 2, Groundhog Day, the actual filming of the movie occurred between March 16 and June 10, 1992.

Towards the end of shooting, the temperature reached upwards of 80 degrees, so they had to bring in fake snow and have the actors wear big winter jackets in the heat of the summer.

Many Changes To The Film

Between the first and final drafts of the film, numerous major changes in the script completely changed the movie's direction. The original screenplay was written by Danny Rubin, and his version had the audience kept in the dark about the time loop.

In this version, Phil then ended his life only to wake up to the same morning once again. In the original ending, Rita admitted that she was also stuck in a time loop.

An On-Set Debate

Until it was decided whether or not Murray would be wearing pajamas, Bill Murray refused to shoot the scene. Apparently, this caused debate amongst the cast and crew, and the dilemma was put to a debate.

An assistant set director warned Ramis that the film might be ruined if Phil wasn't wearing clothes in the end, and Ramis decided to take his advice.

Nobody Knows Exactly How Long He Was Trapped In The Time Loop

While there are 38 different days depicted in Groundhog Day, some fans broke it down and claimed that Phil Connors was in the time loop for eight years, eight months, and sixteen days.

Some people, including Ramis, estimate that he was stuck in the loop for about 34 years. Yet, in the original script, the weatherman was going to be stuck in the loop for 10,000 years.

A Reference To Rasputin

In the scene when Phil is trying to explain what is happening to him to Rita, he states, "I've been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned." Interestingly, these are the same methods that were used by the assassins of Grigory Rasputin, which may be an Easter egg in the film.

However, it also might be a reference to Ghostbusters II, as it's said that Vigo the Carpathian may have died similarly.

Stephen Tobolowsky Used His Insurance Agent For Inspiration

While filming the movie, Ramis and screenwriter Danny Ruben wanted to add another Ned Ryerson scene at the last minute. So, actor Stephen Tobolowsky wrote up a scene for his character in which Ryerson explains numerous insurance policies to Phil Conners.

Tobolowsky claims that he based his character on his own insurance agent. Apparently, his insurance agent later called and thanked him for his portrayal.

Keeping It Appropriate

While Phil spends his time in the loop, he learns new languages and skills, such as playing the piano and ice sculpting. Rubin and Ramis did this on purpose in order to keep the film appropriate.

They decided against delving into the darker side of a time loop, feeling that it would ruin the film.

Inspired By Nietzsche

Unsurprisingly, the concept of Groundhog Day was actually inspired by the works of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. In his renowned book The Gay Science, he tells the story of a man that lives the same day over and over again.

While the film is a comedy, there are many philosophical and ethical nuances sprinkled throughout the film as well.

The Snowball Fight That Turned Serious

While filming, Murray and Ramis had a strained relationship. While filming the snowball fight between Phil and the kids, Ramis instructed the kids to throw snowballs at Murray as hard as they could.

Once Murray realized what was going on, he began pelting the kids with snowballs as hard as he could in return.

Michael Shannon Embarrassed Himself

Actor Michael Shannon, who played the role of Fred, was a big fan of Bill Murray. One day, he saw Murray listening to Talking Heads on his boombox between tapes, and he asked Murray if he liked the band.

Murray said something that made Shannon realize what a stupid question that had been. On top of that, Ramis made Murray apologize to Shannon, embarrassing him even further.

It Tried To Avoid Being Like Caddyshack

One of the most notable changes to the script was a scene between Phil and the groundhog. In the original version, Phil was supposed to kill the groundhog in its lair to try and disrupt the time loop.

Yet, it didn't take them long to cut the scene as they thought it was too reminiscent of the movie Caddyshack.

Bill Murray's Messy Divorce

During filming, Murray was going through a messy divorce, which seriously affected his performance and mood. To keep his mind off his troubles, Murray began obsessing over the film, constantly calling Harold Ramis in the early morning hours.

Supposedly, Murray's divorce was also a contributing factor to his and Ramis' falling out.

The Clocks Are Stopped In The Diner

If you look closely during the scenes in the diner, you'll notice that all of the clocks are stopped.

They are all completely stationary and are used to represent Phil Conner's current situation, with his life having been put on hold.

Tori Amos Almost Played Rita

The role of Rita actually almost went to singer-songwriter Tori Amos.

Although she was mainly a musician, she almost had the opportunity to play Rita in the film but was eventually beaten out by Andie McDowell.

They Changed One Line Because Of McDowell's Accent

In the original script, McDowell's character, Rita, had her famous line that said, "Oh, let's not ruin it." However, after a few takes, Ramis decided to change the line to "Oh, let's not spoil it."

This is because he felt that McDowell's South Carolina accent made the word "ruin" sound unusual for her character.

Murray Based One Scene On His Own Experience

The scene when Phil is reading to Rita after she falls asleep actually happened to Murray.

Apparently, his wife had fallen asleep on their wedding night after drinking too much champagne, and Murray read to her as she slept.

The Final Scene Was Shot 25 Times

While the final scene when Phil wakes up next to Rita in the B&B was filmed the morning of February 3, the day after Groundhog Day, a total of 25 times.

Director Harold Ramis was unsure how he wanted the tone to feel, but finally came up with the end scene.

Bill Murray Refused A Spit Bucket

In the scene when Phil is gorging himself on pastries in the diner, he was offered a spit bucket. However, Murray declined and instead decided to eat just about every pastry.

Murray later admitted to getting sick after eating far too much angel food cake.

The Film Boosted Tourism In Punxsutawney

Due to the popularity of the movie, tourism in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania spiked.

According to the Washington Post, in 2013, there were more than 35,000 spectators at the annual Groundhog Day festivities, while prior to the movie, there were only a mere 6,500 residents of the small town.

Bill Murray Was Actually Playing The Piano

When Phil learns an instrument at the piano teacher’s house, he fumbles while playing “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paginini,” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

That was actually Bill Murray playing. He learned the song by ear.

The Alarm Clock Wouldn't Break

In one scene, Murray snags his alarm clock and slams it on the ground, shattering it. While filming the scene, Murray threw his alarm clock to the floor as planned, but it barely broke.

The film crew then had to batter it repeatedly with a hammer. Although the hammer broke the clock, it continued to play the same song.

Paul Lynde Inspired One Of The Film's Jokes

Comedian Paul Lynde once described how he once drove through the San Fernando Valley while intoxicated. He crashed into a mailbox, and the police ran up to his car with their guns drawn. Lynde said, "I'll have a cheeseburger, hold the onions, and a large Sprite."

This inspired one of the jokes in Groundhog Day .

The Piano Teacher's House Was Real

Most of the sets featured in Groundhog Day were not filmed in real rooms. Phil’s room and the bed and breakfast were both shot in an empty warehouse in Cary, Illinois.

The only scenes that featured an actual house were where Phil took piano lessons. The piano teacher’s house was real, as was her front room.

A Company Tried To Sue The Movie

In the scene where Phil and Ned interact on the street, you can spot a store called Lloyd’s in the background.

The movie crew had to close off the street, and afterward, Lloyd’s tried to sue the production for their several thousand dollars in “lost business.”

It Was Filmed In Woodstock, Illinois

Although the film was set to take place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but director Harold Ramis wanted to shoot it in Woodstock, Illinois, instead.

The people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania saw this as an insult and were offended by their decision, so they didn't allow the film to use their groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, to be featured in the movie.

The Movie Made Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Famous

Being set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day made the small town famous. Now, the city actually takes Groundhog Day seriously and has developed into a community-wide event.

In the past, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis even acted as honorary grand marshals for the holiday festivities.

Phil Went Through The Five Stages Of Grief

Throughout the film, Phil undergoes the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Writer Harold Ramis said that his fellow writer, Danny Rubin, “actually took Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as a model - her five stages of death and dying - and we used that as a template for Bill Murray's progress."

Groundhog Day And Edge Of Tomorrow Have Many Similarities

Groundhog Day shares many similarities with the 2014 movie Edge of Tomorrow . Both films chronicle men who are trapped in a never-ending day.

Each movie includes a character called Rita, and both protagonists awake at 6:00 a.m. with the line, “same old, same old.”

A Real Tip Top Cafe

In the movie, many scenes take place in the Tip Top Cafe, a fictional restaurant that was created for Groundhog Day .

But after the film’s success, a real restaurant named Tip Top Bistro opened up.

There Are Two Inaudible Lines

When Rita first tells Phil what she typically drinks to, he mutters, “okay...to world peace.” This line can only be caught if you read lips.

Later in the film, Phil is in the alley scene when he gives up on saving the homeless man. He looks up and evidently says something, but no audio reveals what he said.

A Possible Explanation Of the Loop

Although Murray's character eventually makes it out of the time loop, audiences are still left wondering what or who caused it. Ramis decided to leave it as a mystery for the viewers.

Some of the explanations that fans have come up with are that he was cursed by a past lover or someone that he had been rude to.

Ramis And Murray Had A Falling Out After The Film

After wrapping up Groundhog Day, director Harold Ramis admitted that he and Bill Murray had a falling out in their friendship. Although the two were once good friends, Ramis claimed that Murray was "really irrationally mean and unavailable."

The two stopped talking for almost 20 years until Murray came to set things straight before Ramis passed away in 2014.

Backlash For The Film

The film also got a lot of attention from religious groups and spiritual gurus who were rubbed the wrong way by the concept of the film.

This was particularly shocking to Harold Ramis, who didn't think anyone would actually take the movie as seriously as they did.

Several Authors Claimed That The Movie Stole Their Idea

After the film was released, several science fiction writers came forward and argued that the screenwriters stole their idea.

Writer Danny Rubin claimed that his inspiration for the film actually came from “Christmas Every Day,” an 1892 short story by William Dean Howells.

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Will Phil and Hope see their shadows? What to know about the weather predicting groundhogs

It is almost time to discover if we are to endure six more weeks of grueling winter weather or if we will be lucky and see an early spring, and the fate of our weather outcomes is in the hands of a famous furry rodent that lives in a hole in Pennsylvania.

That's right, Groundhog Day is just around the corner, so here is everything you need to know about the tradition and how to celebrate.

Groundhog Day: While you wait for a large rodent to give you a weather forecast, here's how to watch the movie

When is Groundhog Day?

Groundhog Day is observed in the U.S. and Canada on Feb. 2 every year and falls on a Friday in 2024.

Why do we celebrate Groundhog Day?

Groundhog Day is more than just a classic movie starring Bill Murray, it is most well known for being the day where a famous groundhog located in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, predicts the end of winter by seeing (or not seeing) his own shadow.

There are two outcomes:

• The Groundhog sees his shadow:  If the groundhog emerges from his hole and sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of wintry weather.
• The Groundhog sees no shadow:  If he emerges from his burrow and does NOT see his shadow, then early spring weather is right around the corner.

Perhaps the most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil. He is known as "Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather-Prophet Extraordinary.”

More: While you wait for a large rodent to give you a weather forecast, here's how to watch the movie

Will the groundhog see his shadow this year?

Many Hoosiers are probably ready for what has felt like an endless winter to come to an end, and we might just be in luck.

According to the Farmer's Almanac , they expect to see cloudy skies on Feb. 2, which means that Punxsutawney Phil will not see his shadow and will predict an early spring.

You are able to watch the livestream for this event on Visit Pennsylvania's website on Groundhog Day at visitpa.com/live-stream-phils-prediction .

What's happening in Indiana for Groundhog Day 2024?

The town of Hope, Indiana , has its own special way to celebrate Groundhog Day, and that is with their own weather-predicting groundhog.

The town will gather at the town square to see what their groundhog, named Hope (the successor of Grubby the Groundhog), predicts for the coming weeks.

Main Street of Hope and Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators' 11th annual Groundhog Day event will take place at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 2.

Katie Wiseman is a trending and breaking news intern at IndyStar. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman .

• Entertainment

‘Groundhog Day’ meets ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ in new comic novel

Book review.

Some say a good marriage is when you wake up and choose your spouse again, every day, a truism a Londoner named Lauren repeatedly puts to the test in Holly Gramazio’s rollicking “The Husbands.”

As the book opens, a tipsy Lauren is returning home from a bash when she encounters a strange man in her apartment, claiming to be her husband. One problem? She’s not married. Hundreds more problems? Lauren quickly discovers that when her possible-husband goes up into the attic, a completely different husband comes down. Over the course of the book, set during one year, she repeatedly sends husbands into the attic in search of better models, cycling through up to a dozen a day.

It’s a screwball setup that Gramazio has tons of fun with. There’s this encounter with a husband named Michael, who informs her she has a cat who is named after former British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone because of their matching sideburns (Lauren whips through so many spouses who turn out to have ear hair, rotten children or upsetting hobbies that she often doesn’t bother getting their names).

“Lauren is sure she doesn’t know what Gladstone’s sideburns looked like. What did Gladstone do? How racist was he? Does she have a problematic cat? This is perhaps not her most pressing issue.”

The most pressing issues are: Does Lauren even want a husband? And, given the panoply of options, can she stand any candidate for more than a few days?

“The Husbands” plays like a wildly entertaining variation on “Groundhog Day,” in which Lauren keeps repeating the concept of marriage, learning about herself from each spouse. Gramazio, a game designer making her fiction debut, keeps the concept lively by inventing real-world solutions that make sense in Lauren’s magic-attic world.

Faced with a job she doesn’t know how to do, for instance, Lauren quickly learns she can call in sick a lot because she knows she’ll be bailing on her husband/acquiring a new life soon. She also can spend all her money because it turns out new lives/new husbands generally bring new bank accounts.

Lauren may strike readers as too flip — one theme of “Husbands” is that she needs to figure out who she is — but Gramazio has invented a heroine who is great company and who’s as quick with a quip as she is to send a husband with bad table manners packing:

“‘I’ll weed your garden,’ one husband is always saying, turning innocent phrases into double entendres. She hates it. There’s no lustful intent, it’s just a constant drip of not-joke. ‘I’ll order your burrito.’ ‘I’ll boil your eggs.’ ‘I’ll take your ice cream out of the freezer.’ I’ll send you back into the attic, she thinks as she pulls the ladder down.”

One conclusion about a woman who rejects literally hundreds of spouses in her yearlong round of speed marrying is that she doesn’t want a husband. Gramazio allows for that possibility in “Husbands,” which she seems to have had a little trouble figuring out how to end. But, even if Lauren doesn’t have much luck with marriage, this book is a match made in heaven for readers in search of a zippy read.

NEW FICTION

Holly Gramazio, Doubleday, 336 pp., $29

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Another Groundhog Day: Volunteers fan out to clean up the Pines (again)

Apr. 9—TRAVERSE CITY — Less than four months after hauling several tons of trash out of the Pines, an army of city employees and volunteers descended on the city's largest homeless encampment again on Monday.

Fanning out, they swarmed both sides of Kids Creek to reach out-of-the-way campsites that had not been cleaned and had been accumulating trash for years.

In what has become Traverse City's version of Groundhog Day, the volunteers' labors followed an effort by "Serving Up Love," a group of citizen volunteers who worked a full day on Saturday. Using tarpaulins, they dragged piles of garbage to staging areas so that a fleet of city-owned front-end loaders could scoop the trash into a waiting garbage truck.

Monday's volunteers included City Commissioner Tim Werner, who noted that it's far easier to get rid of trash when you can afford to live in a house and pay for garbage removal.

"This makes me think about how easy it is for me and my family to dispose of trash," he said. "We empty it, it gets picked up and we forget about it. I have to do very little. We're humans, they're humans — and we all produce lots of trash."

Traverse City Police Chief Matthew Richmond and Police Officer Krista Fryczynski, who is dedicated to cover the Pines area, both commended "Serving Up Love" and group leader Robin Grubbs for their work over the weekend.

"I'm so impressed with what they did on Saturday," Fryczynski said, adding, "I want this to be a clean slate for this summer . . . and I'm just trying to get ideas of how we can keep it where it's gonna be by the end of today."

Sanitation at the site is a concern. During the cleanup, volunteers dealt with buckets filled with human waste and gallon milk jugs filled with urine.

Once the Safe Harbor homeless shelter closes at the end of the month and the population of the Pines grows, a major issue that city officials will have to address are the unsanitary conditions that invariably develop there. Because of vandalism, there are no porta-potties in the Pines and so residents end up using Kids Creek and surrounding woods.

"To take them (the porta-potties) away and say we can't have them is embarrassing to me as a city commissioner," Werner said, adding that some doctors have told him that the Pines is a public-health crisis waiting to happen. "It's heartbreaking."

Another issue that city officials are trying to address is the fact that a significant portion of the trash that is being removed was brought to the Pines by well-intentioned do-gooders who have dropped off sleeping bags, blankets, clothes and myriad other items that were never used. Left to the elements, they became sodden piles of garbage.

Jenn Holm, a social worker who is detailed to the Traverse City Police Department, recommended that people who want to donate items for the homeless to coordinate their giving through Goodwill Northern Michigan's Basic Needs Coalition.

Information about the coalition and items needed for the homeless is available at goodwillnmi.org/basic-needs .

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One More Time (2023) Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Netflix

By monicaprabhakar

One More Time is a Swedish comedy movie on Netflix. Mixed with elements from Groundhog Day and a reverse 13 Going on 30 plot, the movie is filled with 2002-millennial nostalgia. The movie is about a 40-year-old woman, Amelia, who is a loser and on her 40th birthday wishes to be her 18-year-old self who was popular and cool.

Here’s how you can watch and stream One More Time via streaming services such as Netflix.

Is One More Time available to watch via streaming?

Yes, One More Time is available to watch via streaming on Netflix.

The plot follows Amelia who gets hit by a bus on her 40th birthday, wakes up as her 18-year-old self celebrating her birthday back home in her room. But her wish soon becomes a bane when she realises she’s stuck in a loop and the only way to break free is to live each day over and over again. 40 year old Amelia stuck in 2002 realises her mistakes and the rude and obnoxious attitude she carried all through high school. Amelia, on the path to repentance, tries to make amends with Fiona but she keeps Amelia at arm’s length.

The cast includes Swedish actress Hedda Stiernstedt as Amelia, Tove Edfeldt as adult Fiona and David Tainton as Max, Amelia’s high school boyfriend.

Watch One More Time streaming via Netflix

One More Time i s available to watch on Netflix.

You can watch via Netflix by following these steps:

• Visit netflix.com/signup
• $6.99 per month (standard with Ads)
• $15.49 per month (Standard)
• $22.99 per month (Premium)
• Enter your email address and password to create an account
• Enter your chosen payment method

The cheapest Netflix Standard with Ads Plan provides all but a few of its movies and TV shows. However, it will show ads before or during most of its content. You can watch in Full HD and on two supported devices at a time.

Its Standard Plan provides the same but is completely ad-free while also allowing users to download content on two supported devices with an additional option to add one extra member who doesn’t live in the same household.

The Premium Plan provides the same as above, though for four supported devices at a time, with content displaying in Ultra HD. Users get to download content on up to six supported devices at a time and have the option to add up to two extra members who don’t live in the same household. Netflix spatial audio is also supported.

One More Time synopsis is as follows:

“On her 40th birthday, Amelia makes a fateful wish to be 18 again back in 2002 but soon regrets it when she’s stuck reliving the day over and over again.”

NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.

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Punxsutawney Phil, the spring-predicting groundhog, and wife Phyllis are parents of 2 babies

FILE - Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 138th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced that Phil and his wife Phyllis, have become parents of two groundhog babies on Wednesday, March 27. Phil is credited by many with predicting whether an early spring is coming based on whether he sees his shadow on Feb. 2 each year. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)

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Now we know what Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who predicts whether an early spring will arrive each Feb. 2, does on the other 364 days.

The Pennsylvania group that handles Phil, and his groundhog wife, Phyllis, says the couple have become parents.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club said in a Facebook post Wednesday that Phyllis recently gave birth to two healthy babies. It did not specify their sex or give names for either one.

“We’re pleased to announce that Punxsutawney Phil has had his first children; we believe there are two baby groundhogs and that Phil and Phyllis have started a family,” Thomas Dunkel, president of a tuxedo-clad group called The Inner Circle that carries on the groundhog tradition each year, said at a news conference Wednesday. “We’re pleased about it, and I talked to Phil with my cane, which lets me speak Groundhogese, and Phil could not be more excited that he started a family.”

Dunkel said a club member discovered the babies Saturday when he came to feed their parents fruit and vegetables.

Phil emerges from his burrow each year the morning of Feb. 2. If he sees his shadow, tradition holds, there will be six more weeks of winter. This year, he did not see his shadow , heralding an early spring.

Although the best known, Phil is far from the only groundhog to try his hand at meteorology. There have been weather-predicting groundhogs in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces, and less formal celebrations far and wide.

Phil and Phyllis live in climate-controlled quarters at the Punxsutawney Memorial Library.

But like most growing families, they now need larger digs. The club plans to move them to a larger home on the library’s grounds.

Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, Punxsutawney Phil comes with his own mythology, including the claim that he will live forever, due to imbibing some magic juice called “The Elixir Of Life.” (His wife is not allowed to partake of the elixir, and thus, is not immortal. Where are groundhog suffragettes when they’re truly needed?)

Given that the annual Groundhog Day ritual has been performed since 1887, that would place Phil in his late 130s, a procreational feat that puts Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Mick Jagger to shame.

And what about the kids? Will they someday inherit the responsibility of predicting whether there will be six more weeks of winter? Will they have to spend their lives waiting for dad to shuffle off to that big burrow in the sky before they can inherit the throne?

Alas, no, Dunkel says. Because their father is immortal, there will always be only one of him.

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