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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
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

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

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."

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.