Today is Groundhog Day, where the myth lives on that a groundhog who sees his shadow will doom us to a longer winter than we deserve. Then there is Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, the film in which Bill Murray’s weatherman, Phil Connors mysteriously finds himself living the same day over and over again (and in many ways during this pandemic, so have we). On a traditional level the movie is a comedy, but it actually touches upon some really dark philosophical themes. It’s estimated by the filmmakers that Phil lives the same day for 10 years.
In honour of Groundhog Day, we’re taking a look back at ten other films that deal with time, memory, dreams, and repeated experiences. While there may be no film that tackles the topic as precisely as Groundhog Day, these films all tread on a similarly metaphysical ground.
50 First Dates
After a tragic accident, Lucy (Drew Barrymore) develops a rare form of amnesia where her memory only lasts one day. She has no idea of her condition, as her family and friends go along with her belief that each day is the one right before she lost her memory. When Henry (Adam Sandler) meets Lucy, he quickly learns that she won’t remember him the next day, and therefore has to make her meet him anew and fall in love with him every single day for the rest of their lives together. The film is soaked in melancholy as Lucy repeats the same day and has to face her new reality for the first time over and over. A bittersweet romantic comedy, 50 First Dates takes the concept of memory loss to a new level. Where Phil in Groundhog day is aware that he’s stuck in the same day for eternity, Lucy is oblivious to it.
About Time
In one of his first starring roles, Domnhall Gleeson plays Tim, a 21-year-old man who discovers that the men in his family have the ability to time travel, however can only use it for their own personal gain. Tim uses this to try and get a girlfriend, and when he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), he’s found the one. However, time travel isn’t as easy as it sounds, and an accident results in him taking back their meeting. Now Tim must make himself meet Mary over and over again, with many mistakes along the way. About Time takes time travel into the romantic comedy realm, and while the stakes are never too high for Tim, it’s a sweet story about first impressions and do-overs. This is similar to Phil's experience in Groundhog Day, as each day he gets the opportunity to do-over what he had done before, and although each day is technically the same, they each end up being different because of how Phil approaches it.
The Butterfly Effect
Evan (Ashton Kutcher) experienced many traumatic events as a child which in turn, he has blocked out of his memory, in the form of blackouts. Later in life and upon reading his journal, he mysteriously is able to travel back in time and change these horrific situations. However, each time he changes something, his future is extremely altered, and often for the worst. Through this, he realizes that he has been a pivotal factor in many of the awful things that have happened in his life, and must find a way to make the realities of those he loves turn out for the better, even if it means sacrificing his own desires. The Butterfly Effect is a dark film that tackles the consequences of our actions, whether they are well-intentioned or not, just as Phil learns the consequences of his actions and how much of an effect he has on those around him in Groundhog Day.
Click
The idea of a remote that we can use to control our own lives sounds like a dream. However, Click proved that being able to alter time in the way that Michael (Adam Sandler) does, can result in a very empty and lonely life. After a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond in search for a “universal” remote, Michael gets more than he bargained for. An exhausted father and husband, Michael skims through the tougher parts of life with this magical remote control, but through this, misses out on important moments and loses track not just of his family, but of himself. Click is a family film that is equally funny and eye-opening, as it reminds us that every aspect of life is necessary to endure—the good, the bad, the easy, and the hard, as they all come together to make us who we are. Michael learns these lessons through his experience in skipping moments, where Phil in Groundhog Day learns them as he is forced to confront the same moments over and over.
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a socially awkward teenage boy who makes for an unlikely hero when he is visited by a 6 foot tall bunny from the future named Frank. Frank’s appearance saves Donnie from a jet engine that crashes into his room, which would’ve killed him. Plagued by the impending end of the world, Donnie follows orders from Frank, committing crimes that lead to larger discoveries about the people around him. What makes all of this possible and even more confusing, is the element of time travel employed by the film. As the film blurs Donnie’s own mental illness with the supernatural events that he participates in, Donnie’s reality becomes all the more elusive. However, Richard Kelly’s cult classic plays with themes of time travel, God, and heroism in wholly unique ways that still stump audiences today. The film's themes parallel those of Groundhog Day as both main characters are forged into heroism, as they learn to value others above themselves.
Edge of Tomorrow
The film on this list that is most thematically similar to Groundhog Day is Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, which essentially is Groundhog Day, if it were an action/science-fiction film starring Tom Cruise. Cage (Cruise) is a military officer who is brought in to fight in an alien war, where the enemy has the ability to re-set the day and know the future. After an attack, Cage develops this power himself, and every time he dies, the day resets. However, he is the only person with this ability, and the future of humanity rests in whether or not Cage can know enough of the future to foresee the enemy’s plan. Edge of Tomorrow is a high concept film that takes the same elements from Groundhog Day and uses them to create an intense, apocalyptic story that is anchored by brilliant performances from both Cruise and Emily Blunt.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Brilliant minds collide in the making of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s tragic love story meets director Michel Gondry’s bizarre and fascinating vision. Set in a world where you can receive a procedure that can erase a person from your mind, the impulsive Clementine (Kate Winslet) does this to her ex-boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey). When Joel finds out that the woman he once loved no longer knows who he is, he decides to erase her from his mind too. The film follows Joel as he goes through the procedure, while lab technicians played by Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood zap Clementine out of his memories. However, love stretches far beyond these extreme actions, and it’s left to our interpretation whether Joel and Clementine are bound to meet and repeat this over and over again. Joel and Clementine may be doomed to repetition in the same way that Phil was in Groundhog Day, except here there's no way of knowing if the couple can learn from their mistakes.
Inception
Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending Inception deals more with dreams than with time. However, perception is key in this film as the audience is constantly tricked between what is reality and what is a dream. Inception follows Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a skilled thief who can steal ideas from people while they are in a dream state. However, in order to redeem his reputation, he now has the task of doing the opposite—he must plant an idea in the mind of CEO Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). The film takes us through different states of consciousness, but the most dangerous aspect is Cobb’s wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) who is plaguing his subconscious. Like Groundhog Day, Inception plays with repetition and our consciousness of experience.
Source Code
Duncan Jones followed up his fantastic debut film Moon with the equally complex Source Code, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens, a soldier who has been tasked with finding out who bombed a commuter train. It’s more challenging than it sounds, however, as Stevens is participating in an experimental government program in which he actually occupies the body of one of the passengers on the train, re-living the last eight minutes of their life. Every eight minutes, Stevens is sent back to a pod where he delivers the information, and he is sent back over and over in these eight minute increments to find out as much as he can about the bombing in order to prevent a future attack. Where Stevens only relives the same eight minutes on a loop, he too learns about his love interest, here played by Michelle Monaghan, in the same way that Phil utilizes his own entrapment to get to know Rita (Andie MacDowell) in Groundhog Day.
Waking Life
The most ambitious, bizarre, and philosophical film on this list is Richard Linklater’s animated film, Waking Life. Where Groundhog Day proposes philosophical ideas within its premise, Waking Life is essentially a film filled with profound conversations, as we follow an unnamed man trudging through different dream states, and experiencing an existential crisis. It’s a different existential crisis than Phil’s, yet both characters are unlocking the mysteries of life through their bizarre entrapment in an altered state. The unnamed man of Waking Life is living out a perpetual dream, interrupted only by false awakenings. Waking Life tackles the meaning of life in a way that no other film in recent memory has come close to, and remains a singular vision from one of our most prolific filmmakers who often experiments with notions of time in film, as he most recently did with Boyhood.
Discover these films and more on the Cineplex Store!
All of these titles and more are available to rent or buy on the Cineplex Store. If you'd like to spend Groundhog Day having a movie marathon we have everything you need.