I love that these have become a staple of the Trap Draw, and this is one of my all-time favorite movies. It would be fun to get Chris Ryan (or even Simmons himself) back into the mix in these things if he’s ever available again, though I think the guys do a great job with these discussions.
Always been a huge Bill Murray fan ever since watching Ghostbusters a thousand times as a kid. I was 13 when Groundhog Day came out and saw it in the theatre. Definitely a rewatchable countless times in my life. This performance really became the touchstone for my perception of him going forward into Rushmore (the best) and beyond.
I’ve used, very tongue in cheek, the line “Yeah – they’re hicks, Rita” so many times when traveling with friends through heartland America. I think that’s my favorite line from the movie. “Too early for flapjacks?” a close second. (Have also pulled out “Did you want to talk about the weather, or are you just making small talk?” in random conversations to puzzled looks more times than I can count.)
I think if I was stuck in this purgatory, I would become fluent in as many languages as I could.
According to a couple different sites calculating how long it would take to acquire all the skills Murray did throughout the film, he was stuck in the loop for 34 years.
If you remake it today the first people I picture are Steve Carrell or Will Ferrell. Most likely Paul Rudd, who can play the exasperated everyman very well.
I still need to listen to the pod, but I would master a foreign language and either the guitar or piano. Golf is the obvious answer, and while I certainly want to be better I am of the Tin Cup, “perfection is unattainable” school of thought.
Also, Paul Rudd might be the perfect call for recasting the role
Just finished listening. Great stuff. Loved the question about what song you would want to hear each morning. The first thought that came to mind was Beautiful Day because it always puts me in a good mood. But, after being stuck reliving the same day I think I’d begin to hate it and feel like it’s mocking me. So, now I am not sure and need to think about it more.
Several years back, I came across an article that reviews the movie and makes some comparison betweenGroundhog Day and It’s a Wonderful Life.
It’s a very interesting to compare two of my all-time favorites. Groundhog Day is more cynical, but in the end each movie has at it’s core the belief that a life of service to others is the best way to live.
George Bailey is inherently good, and yet doesn’t see the benefit his goodness has had on the lives of others and is envious at times of Potter and his material wealth. But, he finally sees that true wealth is found in doing good deeds and having the love of friends and family.
Phil Connors doesn’t start out as inherently good. If anything, he is much more like Potter. But, his character arc is more dramatic than George Bailey because being good is not his starting point. Phil’s curse is only broken when he chooses to accept his situation and sees the value in using his predicament to do as much good as possible each day. In essence, he has to become George Bailey in order to continue living his life as Phil Connors.
I hope this movie is never remade. For starters, it’s the only visual evidence that Chris Elliot is capable of playing a likeable character that exists, so we can’t spoil that.
Even though the movie takes place on February 2nd and it’s unlikely that the radio would be playing this song on that day, but Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” would be an absolute bear to wake up over and over and over.
Plot nitpicking point: Is Punxatawny a big enough town to have its own radio station wtih a local morning show? Or was the morning show even Punxatawny based? I’d have to rewatch the movie and hear the dialogue to hear if they mentioned locality or if they serviced Pittsburgh or western PA.
Had a crazy dream last night that was a mix of groundhogs day, back to the future and butterfly effect.
I was transported 20 years back and had to perfectly reinact my life in order to move back to my current present. Each mistake would show me the new dreary future before reset. Each day reinacted perfectly would allow me to move to the next day. It seemed to take 100,000 year to get right before I woke up in a dead sweat.
What a great pod, and great movie. And think I got whiplash one time trying to change the channel when that Gotye song came on the radio - truly excruciating.
To the original question not sure if I would have the discipline to dedicate myself every single day to one thing for years on end to truly master it. Though would love to be able to read all the books that I’ve wanted to but never got around to actually reading, plus all the great books out there I’ve never even heard of.
I am in the dead center of the overlap in the venn diagram of groundhog day / trap draw. groundhog day was “free on demand” when I was in college a thousand years ago, so naturally, my roommates and I watched it on repeat for a solid month. absolutely loved this pod & the great murray stories from ohoopee and all the pull quotes.
Cracked up when they talked about the ‘escort’ dressed as a maid that’s never explained … thought they were gonna get to the line when turns to the movie theater box office window … “one and adult and uhhh…” looks at the maid … “TWO adults” … gets me every time.
my biggest nitpicking is actually tied to that ‘what skill would you improve?’ question…
I’ve never understood how Phil can physically improve with the daily reset. The same logic of ‘waking up without a scratch’ seems like it would also reset the physical ability tied to, let’s say, the hand strength/ dexterity/ muscle memory required to become a great pianist.
Side note for any groundhog day sickos in the columbus area …
I live about 40 mins from Woodstock, IL. Maybe my way of celebrating Groundhog Day this year will be to make the drive up and give the place a proper tour.
I’m just now realizing that with “the clown stuff” and Geena Davis @KVV confused What About Bob? with Quick Change (1990). Haha. Definitely need to rewatch What About Bob – lays the foundation for the modern grump rep of Richard Dryfus.
This may just be me but I was really surprised that this movie came out in 1993, I would have guessed it was from the mid to late 1980s.
I was born in 1984 and movies that came out in the 1993 to roughly 1995 timeframe are usually really easy for me to place because that period was right when I was coming online to what new movies were out and often seeing them in theater (assuming not R rated).
I don’t think I saw or heard of Groundhog Day until I was in high school. Weird.
