Groundhog Day (1993)

Movie · 1993 · Romance, Fantasy, Comedy · 1h 41m · PG · English

Curator score: 7.3/10 (1.6M ratings)

He’s having the worst day of his life… Over and over again.

Overview

A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.

Ratings

Director

Harold Ramis

Production

Columbia Pictures

Cast

Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick Ducommun, Rick Overton, Robin Duke, Carol Bivins, Willie Garson, Ken Hudson Campbell, Les Podewell, Rod Sell, Tom Milanovich, John M. Watson Sr., Peggy Roeder, Harold Ramis, David Pasquesi

Curator Review

Verdict

A sharp, endlessly rewatchable comedy that turns a high-concept gimmick into a surprisingly moving story about self-improvement, empathy, and second chances. Its mix of deadpan humor, romantic warmth, and philosophical bite makes it one of the defining crowd-pleasers of the 1990s.

Best for

  • fans of smart high-concept comedies
  • viewers who like romance with emotional payoff
  • people who enjoy character-driven redemption arcs
  • audiences looking for a feel-good movie with depth

Skip if

  • you dislike repeated-day/time-loop storytelling
  • you want fast-moving plots without cyclical structure
  • you prefer broad slapstick over dry, character-based humor

Overview

Groundhog Day takes a simple premise and keeps finding new emotional and comic angles inside it. What begins as a cynical workplace comedy becomes a study in boredom, self-absorption, and the hard work of becoming decent to other people. Bill Murray’s performance is crucial: he’s funny, prickly, exhausted, and gradually tender without ever losing the edge that makes the transformation satisfying.

Worth noting

The film’s brilliance is how it balances structure and surprise. The repetition is the joke, but also the mechanism for genuine change, letting the movie move from prankish escalation to something closer to spiritual fable. It’s clever without feeling smug, and sentimental without losing its bite.

Bottom line

Even decades later, it feels unusually complete: a comedy, a romance, and a moral parable that never quite stops being entertaining. It’s one of those rare mainstream films that earns its reputation by being both accessible and unusually smart about human behavior.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Matt Singer (5★) · 11642 likes

The story of a man who thinks he's a god who actually becomes a god and finally learns how to be a man.

Zach a.m. (4★) · 8939 likes

Seemed a bit repetitive.

Tylot Lantern (5★) · 7125 likes

Day 365 out of 365: I did it. I actually watched Groundhog Day every day for an entire year. I feel awesome.

adambolt (4★) · 3573 likes

i fucking hate this poster so much it's the worst god damn poster ever made AAAAAAAAAA

James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 2861 likes

Phil spending an entire day making as many people happy as humanly possible is literally just me on my final 3-day cycle before I fight the final boss in Majora's Mask

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Topics

time loop, high-concept comedy, romantic fantasy, existential, redemption arc, small-town setting, deadpan humor, feel-good, 1990s, character-driven

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