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Groundhog Day poster

Groundhog Day

year 1993decade 90sdirector Harold Ramisgenre Fantasygenre Romantic comedy

101 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Bill Murray Phil Connors
Andie MacDowell Rita Hanson
Chris Elliott Larry the cameraman
Stephen Tobolowsky Ned Ryerson
Brian Doyle-Murray Buster Green
Marita Geraghty Nancy Taylor
Angela Paton Mrs. Lancaster
Rick Overton Ralph
Robin Duke Doris the waitress

Groundhog Day | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Sean Fennesseyguest Issa Rae
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Producer credits not yet identified.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:00Read transcript
  • The Roger Ebert segment states he gave the film three stars initially, then circled back 12 years later and upgraded it to four stars.
  • The quoted later review says tomorrow will come whether or not it is always February 2nd, that we can learn to be better people, and that the point is not that Phil has come to love Rita but that he has learned to see the angel.
  • The do-over is called forgivable because rewatching is the premise of the movie and the film seems deeper with each viewing; many first treated it as a silly Bill Murray romantic comedy. — Sean Fennessey
  • Comedies are said to be unfairly dismissed as unserious; early reactions saw Bill Murray being funny rather than the writing and directing.
  • William Goldman is cited as complaining that comedies get the shaft, arguing There's Something About Mary deserved a best film nomination.
  • Seeing it in a Massachusetts theater, one host thought it really good but did not expect it to be discussed 27 years later; comedies reveal their rhythm over repeat viewings while dramas hit hardest the first time.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How long Phil was stuck; what Phil's next day is like; whether Phil and Rita stay together

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:29Read transcript
  • An old ESPN.com mailbag answer of 27 months is called a huge miss; Ramis is said to have given 10 years on the DVD and later 30 or 40 years; the final answer offered is 18 years.
  • Because he gets so good at the piano, the guest goes slightly above the 18-year answer and says 20 years. — Issa Rae
  • The Buddhists are said to put it at 10,000 years, the time for a spirit to be reborn; the answer given is 32 years. — Sean Fennessey
  • A stage-by-stage estimate: six or seven months trying to win Andy McDowell over, three or four months of suicide attempts, and perhaps 60 years for languages, ice sculpture and piano.
  • No filmmaker settled on an answer: the studio reportedly wanted two months, Ramis moved from 10 years to about three decades, and the co-screenwriter suggested about a hundred years; the ambiguity makes it fun to debate.
  • Asked what they would conquer in such a loop, one answer is a musical instrument.
  • The guest rejects ice sculpture, would put piano on her list, and would try her hand at crime after the money-stealing scheme. — Issa Rae
  • On Phil's next day, one view is that it is a huge letdown for Rita once he no longer knows everything; another asks whether he parlays his knowledge into becoming the Dosecci's guy.
  • One view predicts PTSD from new experiences after 10,000 repeated days; the reply is that he would be delighted by uncertainty on February 4th.
  • Asked whether he and Rita stay together, the answer is no: once he says he lived the same day for 38 years she would sleep at her friend's house, which is called reasonable.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Jeopardy answers and Surly Phil rant; Phil learning to be a better person; Ned getting punched; the light-to-dark transition; the groundhog heist

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:24Read transcript
  • The second-day wake-up is praised for how Murray plays wondering whether he imagined the day before.
  • The drunk drive with the two townies, screaming he will not live by their rules, is liked; snapping by the third or fourth day shows an already damaged man taking their lives in his hands.
  • The flipping-around stretch: kissing the old lady in the breakfast place, punching Ned Ryerson, and eating a giant dessert breakfast with the no-worries exchange; it is called a dream scene, and one participant tried the cake move in fourth grade and almost choked.
  • The scene where he first realizes he likes Andy McDowell's character, as she lists wanting a man who is kind, sensitive and gentle, is called really good.
  • The snowball-fight date: research says Ramis told the kids to whip snowballs at Murray, and Murray whipped them back; whether Rita actually tripped is questioned.
  • He crafts the perfect date with his knowledge, something nobody has figured out in real life; the best dates are imperfect, which is called a theme of the guest's show.
  • Phil answering every Jeopardy question and his Surly Phil rant about worshipping a rat are called a personal choice, followed by the alarm-clock smashing.
  • The suicide-attempt run and the tower jump are praised as well-filmed tone shifts into drama, with Ramis underrated as a director; the ending wake-up with her is another scene.
  • The transition from seduction to the slapping montage to depression and suicides is called very carefully told, possibly found during shooting, and one of the darkest evocations of suicide in a mainstream movie.
  • The efforts to save the homeless man and their inevitability are dark; the fun-and-games stretch of the movie's construction is enjoyable; the favorite part is watching him learn, wise up and be the better person. — Issa Rae
  • Ned getting punched in the face is added: every time, perfect.
  • The pick is the transition from light to dark plus the groundhog heist, an undiscussed great sequence. — Sean Fennessey

Casting What-Ifs

Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton as Phil; Tori Amos as Rita

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:46Read transcript
  • The hosts say Ramis originally wanted Tom Hanks rather than Bill Murray but decided Hanks was too nice; Eddie Murphy is guessed first, and Hanks would have been great.
  • Michael Keaton is said to have turned it down as too confusing, regretted it, and ended up in Multiplicity with Ramis and Andy McDowell.
  • Eddie Murphy would have wanted the part in the mid-to-late 80s but not by 1993 after Boomerang; a circa-1990 Murphy would have been really good, Keaton also would have been good, but Bill Murray ended up perfect.
  • The hosts say Andy McDowell almost did not get the role because it was going to Tori Amos, amid a groundswell, before they played it safe; Sex, Lies, and Videotape is named as her breakthrough.
  • Asked who instead, the answer is not Tori Amos but Susan Sarandon. — Sean Fennessey
  • The Sarandon case: more mustard on the fastball playing off Bill Murray, the right age, and believable as an ambitious TV producer.
  • The Sarandon idea draws pushback that she always feels older and was probably too old in 1993.
  • Meg Ryan is floated and described as very sweet and so blonde.
  • If Eddie Murphy were the lead, Whitney Houston is floated; the early 90s are called a tough era for actresses, Sandra Bullock too young though great, and Julia too big a star; the role is called a prop.
  • After the break, the guest's Eddie Murphy idea is revisited as an awesome 80s Eddie Murphy, with doubt he pulls it off in the 90s.

What’s Aged the Best?

Ned Ryerson; the $1,000 piano lesson; Phil trying to save the homeless man; the premise and redemption arc

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:32Read transcript
  • Andy McDowell's performance is offered as aged best: she cannot overpower Bill Murray and has to be sweet, almost a prop.
  • Strong disagreement: the character felt too pristine, toasting world peace, not a prize and annoying, though it is no reflection on Andy McDowell herself. — Issa Rae
  • One remark says it felt like a female character written by a man; another view is that the character was intentionally pristine, and "I think you're both right".
  • One voice finds her hot; the reply "Is she, though?" cites her 80s hair.
  • The Ned Ryerson introduction is quoted; "needle-nosed Ned, Ned the head" is among the most memorized words, and the actor is called a that guy.
  • The $1,000 first piano lesson, with the teacher shoving the kid out the door and the slow walk, is a favorite.
  • Phil trying to save the homeless man day after day is loved; Michael Shannon's first-movie cameo is noticed as overacting and deferred to a later category.
  • The entire premise of waking up to the same day, timely now as the Atlantic noted, and the redemption arc are called the best part.
  • After the break, the criticism of Andy McDowell is revisited: a pristine, boring love interest suits a bored Phil who talks himself into her, but a smarmy Pittsburgh weatherman falling for such a dull lady is doubted; whether she is intentionally uninteresting is left at possibly.

What’s Aged the Worst?

I'm Your Weatherman theme song; the unexplored stay-awake option; global warming undercutting the groundhog ritual

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:19Read transcript
  • The "I'm Your Weatherman" theme song is called terrible; the hosts say it was written for the movie and co-written by Ramis.
  • It is called one of the last theme songs about a movie's lead, tacky and early-90s in a bad way compared with grunge, West Coast hip hop and Beck, though maybe right for a corny small Pennsylvania town.
  • One view says the movie feels too late 80s, as if it could have come out in 1989, with Chris Elliott a cliched 80s choice though good; for one participant it was ground zero for Chris Elliott.
  • Also a nit: no scene explores why he never stays up all night past 6:01 a.m.; a 13-year-old version of a host pushed this on friends who told him to shut up.
  • Nothing in the movie is explained, like It's a Wonderful Life; it is a teaching device to be taken as fantasy.
  • A host's 15-year-old daughter, the least nitpicky viewer, asked why he did not just stay up all night, so it is judged a pretty big flaw; maybe a scene was filmed and cut.
  • Otherwise the movie is said to have aged really well and to be timeless without phones or internet; one of a couple of small dated things is the satellites joke about long-distance lines being down.
  • Living in L.A. makes winter and the groundhog's shadow irrelevant, so global warming has ruined Groundhog Day, which is called fair; in 25 years at 111 degrees the movie will seem 300 years old.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Stephen Tobolowsky as Ned Ryerson

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:59Read transcript
  • Ned Ryerson's actor is picked, with a proposal to rename the award after him; he embraced being a that guy, and this role is his Lincoln Memorial rather than a Mount Rushmore.
  • The rename would need a check with CR; he is definitely in the Hall of Fame.
  • His sleazy harasser of Bridget Fonda in Single White Female is hard to accept because he is so identified as Ned Ryerson.
  • A favorite bit is Ned hugging him immediately and asking whether he can call in sick while holding him.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:40Read transcript
  • He is also named the Dionne Waiters Award winner and is not in the movie that much; too much Chris Elliott is floated, with Elliott called really funny and arguably the third lead.
  • Rick Ducommun is a that guy remembered from late-80s HBO stand-up specials, deferred to a later category.
  • The pick is made unless someone talks it out, and the reply is "I'm on board."

Recasting Couch

Bill Hicks in Rick Ducommun's part

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:54Read transcript
  • Rick Ducommun's part could have been better; Bill Hicks, a much better stand-up comedian, is proposed and called a good call.
  • Buscemi is floated as possibly good as a down-on-his-luck type doing the glass half full bit.
  • It is a Randy Quaid part, but he had done it too many times; a bigger actor was wanted.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Groundhog bites and rabies shots; the groundhog-lair idea; good Phil or bad Phil; stopped diner clocks; Woodstock, Illinois filming; script origins; 25 takes of the ending; religious readings

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:41Read transcript
  • Bill Murray was reportedly bitten by the groundhog two or three times and needed anti-rabies injections after a bad bite right after the groundhog-stealing scene.
  • Bill Murray and groundhogs are called the greatest actor-animal connection, across two iconic groundhog movies; Turner and Hooch is offered as a rebuttal.
  • Research is cited that, either in the movie shoot or the original script, the kidnapping went further, with him entering the groundhog's lair to blow it up, which was realized to be too close to the earlier Murray groundhog material.
  • According to Ramis, Murray would ask only "good Phil or bad Phil"; the research also says the diner clocks are all stopped and the film was shot in Woodstock, Illinois, about 50 miles from Murray's hometown, with plaques for the puddle curb and Ned's corner.
  • The hosts say the original script opened with Phil already mid-loop and that Ramis changed it, which is judged the right call.
  • The hosts say writer Danny Rubin's big break came from reading Interview with the Vampire and thinking about living forever.
  • Tobolowsky is quoted that it was a mediocre Bill Murray movie until shooting turned it into a classic.
  • The hosts say they shot 25 takes of the closing wake-up and Ramis polled cast and crew, who voted to keep them in their clothes; one host would rather have implied sex, calling the movie chaste apart from the Nancy Taylor love scene.
  • The woman dressed as a maid at the movies with the man-with-no-name costume is questioned as a possible call girl who is simply dropped.
  • The hosts say Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Christians all found significance: mitzvahs before returning to earth, and purgatory with winning Andy McDowell's character's love as heaven.
  • Such interpretation is rare for a popular comedy; the filmmakers likely did not expect religions to claim it, similar to The Big Lebowski.
  • Ramis's earlier films were direct comedies, while Multiplicity reflects a man in crisis; the film may have tripped a wire for its makers.
  • Multiplicity is called polarizing: a mid-90s roommate named Ricky loved it, and it resembles the mediocre Bill Murray movie Tobolowski described, starring Michael Keaton.

Apex Mountain

Groundhog Day the holiday; I Got You Babe (belated)

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:56Read transcript
  • The holiday itself peaked in the early 90s when people cared whether the groundhog saw its shadow; global warming is an even better reason, and it seems stupid now.
  • Andy McDowell draws "I would say yes" and "Hard no", with Sex, Lies, and Videotape offered instead; 130 episodes in, Apex Mountain is still unsettled.
  • After Sex, Lies, and Videotape she was put center frame in mainstream films like Green Card, but she vanishes from memorable movies after 1996.
  • The rebuttal about raising a family is answered with research saying she had her first kid in 1986, before being in a movie. — Sean Fennessey
  • The hosts say her youngest daughter is Margaret Quali from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, born in 1994, and that she did not stop working but made bad movies.
  • A theory: female leads had four-to-five-year shelf lives until the mid-2010s (Madeline Stowe in Stakeout and Revenge), with Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon outlasting it; MacDowell was in that mix and the theory is called 100% legitimate, with a wish to bring Issa back.
  • She could have moved into supporting parts but made unfamiliar 2000s movies; Sex, Lies, and Videotape is promised for a future episode and is one participant's mom's favorite movie.
  • I Got You Babe was obviously at its apex on the 70s variety show, but lives on through this movie for anyone under 40, a belated apex; whether Cher got the joke leads to her Letterman appearance.
  • Asked whether it is Ramis's apex, the answer is "Probably, yeah," as the culmination of a 17-18 year run starting with National Lampoon.
  • A personal apex for him is the first 20 minutes of Stripes, called the best start of any comedy.

Picking Nits

Why he never stays awake; what happens in time after each suicide

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:37Read transcript
  • The stay-awake nit is repeated and said to cover the movie's nits.
  • Whether he wakes up immediately after each suicide or time passes is unresolved; if immediate, he could bang out 10 days in about five hours.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

"People like blood sausage too. People are morons."; "I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl."

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:24Read transcript
  • "People like blood sausage too. People are morons." is liked and called a good one.
  • There are too many to list; Murray is called the all-time comeback guy, seemingly writing replies on the fly.
  • The Virgin Islands bar line about lobster, pina coladas and a sunset ending with "Why couldn't I get that day?" is another liked quote.

More from the conversation

A Ringer network plug promotes the Spotify-exclusive TV Concierge podcast, including a Defending Jacob breakdown, and the relaunched Recapables feed with a Billions commentary podcast from the show's creators.
Approx. transcript time · 00:00:46Read transcript
Issa Ray (ASR) is introduced as the special guest, with her HBO show Insecure called fantastic and possibly the host's wife's single favorite show.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:37Read transcript
A trailer cold open precedes the episode; the guest is billed for at least the first two-thirds of the podcast.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:10Read transcript
The guest picked the movie as her comfort movie, loved since third grade and watched whenever it aired on TBS or TNT; it is called the ultimate pandemic movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:38Read transcript
The rewatch made one participant feel bad about not pursuing self-improvement during lockdown.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:18Read transcript
An Atlantic piece days earlier framed the film as the ultimate pandemic movie; repeating a botched day is described as an ideal, game-like chance for a procrastinator.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:42Read transcript
Asked whether it is one of the most ripped-off movies of the last 30 years, the answer is that the idea moved into TV, including a Netflix series using the exact idea, plus a teen movie and Happy Death Day and its sequel; the Could This Work as a 10-episode Netflix series category is mentioned in passing.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:25Read transcript
Bill Murray's career is traced from Ghostbusters in 1984 through Razor's Edge, Scrooged in 1988, Ghostbusters 2, Quick Change and What About Bob to Groundhog Day in 1993.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:03Read transcript
Asked whether Groundhog Day or Ghostbusters will outlive him, the answer is Groundhog Day hands down, since it holds up graphically and is feel-good; Scrooged laid the foundation.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:50Read transcript
Groundhog Day will last because of human stakes inside a high-concept premise and the philosophy around it, taught in postdoctoral classes and adopted by Buddhists.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:16Read transcript
The dark suicide-run section is praised; the hosts wonder whether the spiritual side drew Harold Ramis, and writer Danny Rubin is said to have used the five stages of grief.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:37Read transcript
The guest says the rewatch struck her after going through those stages during the pandemic, including a bout of depression, and the viewing felt therapeutic.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:08Read transcript
A host who turned 50 this year recounts his Bill Murray history: SNL from season five, Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters, a late-80s dip, What About Bob and Groundhog Day, and Lost in Translation as the last piece.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:29Read transcript
On whether Murray should have won the Oscar that year, one reply says his real Oscar snub was Rushmore.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:02Read transcript
For viewers in their mid-30s Murray was introduced as Dr. Peter Vankman (ASR); hybrid dramedies like What About Bob, Quick Change and Groundhog Day led him to work with Tim Burton, Wes Anderson, Sophia Coppola and Jim Jarmish (ASR), and this film is called pivotal.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:16Read transcript
The guest says comedy is rooted in everything she writes and calls Murray's career a blueprint.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:32Read transcript
The off-screen Bill Murray legend grew in the late 90s and 2000s with stories of him wandering into parties; a magazine piece, possibly GQ, collected the anecdotes and became a book.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:15Read transcript
Filming is imagined as its own Groundhog Day of repeated takes; the hosts wonder whether all the Ned Ryerson scenes were shot in one day, and research could not answer it.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:24Read transcript
The 2004 Oscars are recalled as the Lord of the Rings year, with Sean Penn winning for Mystic River; his Boston accent is judged about 80% there.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:25Read transcript
The hosts recount set drama: Murray was having marital problems and acting belligerently, and Ramis told the New Yorker that at times Bill was irrationally mean, unavailable and constantly late.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:07Read transcript
The hosts say Murray phoned Ramis at early hours, Ramis sent writer Danny Rubin to be a Murray whisperer, and, citing Ramis's daughter, that Ramis grabbed Murray by the collar and shoved him against a wall; the two did not speak for 21 years until reconciling near the end.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:48Read transcript
One host learned of the feud only 30 minutes earlier from the film's Wikipedia page and finds it shocking given the movie's themes of loss, time and relationships.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:46Read transcript
The hosts suggest the emotionally hard shoot may have pushed Ramis too far.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:53Read transcript
The hosts float that Murray resented the insinuation that he needed Ramis; the reply is that ego pushes a star to spread his wings and amplified Hollywood talk builds resentment.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:21Read transcript
Asked how Bill Murray would be worked into Insecure, the answer is that the show is cautious about celebrity cameos, but he would fit its annual show-within-a-show.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:55Read transcript
The movie is said to have had a $15 million budget and to have made $70.9 million.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:00Read transcript
Categories start early because the guest has about 20 minutes left.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:59Read transcript
Research is cited that Ramis and the writer discussed how dark to go, including torture or murder, and drew a line; that restraint is praised, with unease about the two drunk townies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:42Read transcript
The guest leaves for a hard out, is expected back for a future Can't Hardly Wait episode, and jokes that the hosts ruined her perception of Bill Murray.
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:39Read transcript
Mid-episode Ringer promo break: MJ documentary coverage with the host's podcast three times a week, TV Concierge, Behind the Billions, and the Spotify app.
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:36Read transcript
A host changed the batteries in his Zoom recorder during the break.
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:37Read transcript
Stripes: its opening beats are praised, it later turns into a war movie, and whether it holds up for viewers under 30 is questioned.
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:16Read transcript
Streaming availability is said to decide which old comedies last; Groundhog Day is on Netflix, runs an hour and 35 minutes, and is one of the breeziest movies despite weighty themes.
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:55Read transcript
Ramis is placed in a rare class with Albert Brooks for treating serious ideas comically, with, in one host's recollection, Judd Apatow praising his influence after he died; Ramis, Ivan Reitman and John Hughes are called the big three of 80s comedy.
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:09Read transcript
A host argues his generation was the first rewatchables generation after VCRs arrived; at Holy Cross a hallmate later known as Jacko was nicknamed Ox after Stripes.
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:30Read transcript
Jacko's recent appearance with a proper mic rig was startling after ten years of hearing him over the phone.
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:01Read transcript
Asked for a Bill Simmons Hall of Fame day, the asker suggests the day with Bill Russell talking about the NBA; the reply confirms it was the highlight of his career but hesitates at reliving 10,000 straight days of it.
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:41Read transcript
A top-five Bill Murray performances list: Stripes, Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, Caddyshack for Carl, with Lost in Translation fifth or sixth; the reply praises Kingpin, Ghostbusters, Caddyshack and Rushmore.
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:12Read transcript
The film is said to have probably deserved an Oscar nomination in retrospect, to have joined the National Registry about 13 years later, and to have had a long HBO shelf life.
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:39Read transcript
The 1993 Oscar field is read: Schindler's List won over The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano and The Remains of the Day; Philadelphia was not nominated for Best Picture though Tom Hanks won Best Actor; Groundhog Day was shut out.
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:28Read transcript
The hosts worry about running out of content without sports, floating MJ content, Redraftables, and redoing every Oscars from 1975 or 1972; Survivor is treated as sports.
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Sign-off thanks Issa for 45 great minutes, plugs Insecure on HBO Sunday nights, and announces Crimson Tide for Monday.
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:27Read transcript