Line #170 Film/GroundhogDay


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1993-groundhog-day-poster1_1521.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[Music/SonnyAndCher ♫ Then put your little hand in mine... ♫]]'']]
3
4	->''"Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!"''
5	-->-- '''Phil Connors'''
6
7	''Groundhog Day'' is a 1993 fantasy comedy film directed by Creator/HaroldRamis from a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin, and starring Creator/BillMurray. Known for [[TropeCodifier massively popularizing]] the time loop trope (to the extent that it's [[TropeNamers referred to on this site]] as the GroundhogDayLoop), cementing its namesake day into the modern lexicon as a stand-in for an unpleasant, repetitive situation, and serving as a dramatic showcase for Murray (then primarily known as a comic actor), the film is considered a modern classic.
8
9	Phil Connors (Murray), [[DelusionsOfLocalGrandeur an arrogant and smarmy weatherman for a local TV news station]] in UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}, his new producer Rita Hanson (Creator/AndieMacDowell), and cameraman Larry (Creator/ChrisElliott) go to [[EverytownAmerica Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania]] to film the annual Groundhog Day festival. Phil loathes the annual celebration and is surly throughout the proceedings, wanting nothing more than to pack up and go home. That proves impossible when a sudden blizzard arrives and closes the roads, forcing Phil and the crew to stay the night.
10
11	He wakes up the next morning to find it's Groundhog Day again. Everyone goes on ''exactly'' as they did the previous day, with only him aware of it. Though surprised, Phil goes through the motions, still gets stuck in Punxsutawney, and wakes up the next morning to find it’s still Groundhog Day — again. And again. And so on, with no end to the loop in sight.
12
13	The film proceeds to follow Phil as he tries to both adjust to and escape from his bizarre dilemma, with the comedy and drama drawn from the various ways he reacts to it. From [[TheHedonist irresponsible, self-centered hedonism]] (after all, if tomorrow never comes, there are no consequences) to [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal]] {{despair\|EventHorizon}} (if tomorrow never comes, it’s no use going on) to an insane number of time-eating hobbies (if tomorrow never comes, you might as well try everything) — no matter what he does, Phil's efforts seem doomed to leave him forever trapped in his own personal Groundhog Day. But with help from the kind-hearted Rita and his own unexpected potential for [[CharacterDevelopment self-growth and redemption]], the possibility arises that tomorrow will come for Phil after all.
14
15	In 2016, the film was adapted into [[Theatre/GroundhogDay a musical]], written by the screenplay's original author Danny Rubin and Music/TimMinchin, which played a limited run in London before opening on Broadway in 2017. In 2019, Sony confirmed a sequel called ''VideoGame/GroundhogDayLikeFatherLikeSon'' for the [[Platform/PlayStation4 PlayStation VR]], starring Phil's son as he experiences this time loop.
16
17	In 2020, Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky and Brian-Doyle Murray reprised their roles and returned to Woodstock to film a ''Groundhog Day''-themed Jeep commercial for UsefulNotes/SuperBowl LIV. Appropriately enough, the Super Bowl took place on February 2.
18	----
19	!!"Okay, tropers, rise and shine and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cold out there today!":
20
21	* AbhorrentAdmirer:
22	** In the final loop, Larry is flirting with Nancy, who ''really'' doesn't appreciate it.
23	** He [[LaserGuidedKarma gets his own back]] when he is bought for 25 cents at the auction by an old lady who disgusts him.
24	** Phil eventually figures out he needs to fake being one of these to drive off Ned Ryerson.
25	* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Harold Ramis noted that from the piano teacher's perspective, she's met Phil only once (not counting telling him "It's Groundhog Day!" when he asks what day it is), so she either has RippleEffectProofMemory or she has a gigantic ego thinking she trained Phil as a classically-trained pianist when he was already nearly one during his last visits.
26	** See also NewBodyOldAbilities below.
27	* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: The psychiatrist Phil visits disbelieves his story and then offers to schedule another appointment for ''tomorrow''. Cue Phil covering his face with a cushion and punching it.
28	* AmbiguousSituation: Just as mysterious as the loop itself is how [[spoiler:Phil finally exits it. Did he have to serve out a specific number of days? Did he have to complete selfless tasks in a certain order or amount? Or was the task itself to become genuinely selfless? The ending answers no questions, and Phil is too overjoyed at having his life back to ask them.]]
29	* AntiHero: Phil really has no heroic or really any redeeming qualities [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold before the character development]].
30	* TheAntiNihilist: [[spoiler:At some point in the movie, arguably the moment he wakes up after spending a nice day with Rita and finds himself still stuck in the loop, Phil realizes that he may actually ''never'' get out of the loop or get Rita to be his girlfriend. But instead of endlessly despairing over it, he decides to accept his situation and make the most out of it, helping people in need using his knowledge, never asking for payback or recognition, fully knowing that there will be no lasting consequences whatsoever]].
31	* ApocalypseAnarchy: While it doesn't happen for the world, Phil [[DiscussedTrope discusses with a couple of local guys]] what they would do if there was no tomorrow. Their enthusiastic answer is that they could do whatever they wanted, now with no consequences. Inspired by this, Phil decides to live his GroundhogDayLoop in the most outlandish way possible, which consists mostly of leading the police on a car chase and then crashing.
32	** Subverted by the guys' dismayed responses, which indicate they wouldn't want to live out his nihilistic anarchy even before lasting consequences are taken into account.
33	* ArmorPiercingResponse: A very subtle one, and PlayedForLaughs, but it really gets to the heart of the [[AnAesop Aesop]] of the film.
34	-->'''Phil:''' ''(rhetorically)'' What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?\
35	'''Fred:''' ''[[INeedAFreakingDrink takes a shot]]''\
36	'''Ralph:''' ''(morosely)'' That about sums it up for me.
37	* ArtistDisillusionment: InUniverse, Phil doesn't like his fanbase, but normally keeps it off camera. However, within the loop, at times, he doesn't bother hiding it, though [[LaserGuidedAmnesia the loop keeps people from remembering]].
38	* ArtisticLicense: Granting that the two drivers are apparently pretty boneheaded and inattentive, armored car carriers only have the exact amounts their customers ordered in the specific denominations they asked for, so they can't make change for someone without getting a complaint from the customer whose order they just screwed up. Doris should really be going into the bank they just parked at to get a roll of quarters, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality but then Phil wouldn't have such a golden opportunity to swipe a bag of cash from the back of their truck.]]
39	* ArtisticLicenseCars: When Phil drives the truck off the cliff to kill him and the groundhog, it doesn't have a driveline. [[EveryCarIsAPinto Then it explodes.]]
40	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Western Pennsylvania does not experience sunrise on February 2 until around 7:00 AM. In the film, it’s already broad daylight by 6:00 AM. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This is an understandable trope to invoke]] because it saves the crew from repeatedly having to catch and film through twilight, which is a tall order because it's so brief and wanders in time due to cloudy conditions.
41	* ArtisticLicenseMusic: At the end of the film, shots of the swing band show an upright plucked bass, but the soundtrack has an electric bass.
42	* AsHimself: Scooter, as The Groundhog.
43	* AscendedExtra: A rare in-universe example. Many of the characters seen in the Punxsutawney crowd scene and the diner become major characters in Phil's life as he’s forced to become intimately familiar with the town, especially Nancy, Gus, Ralph, and even his piano teacher (who is the townsperson telling Phil "It's Groundhog Day!").
44	* BachelorAuction: One occurs at the groundhog party. Larry gets bought by a couple of old ladies for 25 cents while Rita empties her purse for Phil.
45	* BestialityIsDepraved: After Phil kidnaps the groundhog, Rita wonders outloud why anyone would do that. Larry responds with "I can probably think of a couple reasons" before muttering "Pervert." under his breath.
46	* BedmateReveal: [[spoiler:Phil waking up next to Rita demonstrates that the time loop is finally over.]]
47	* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Zigzagged, being tortured by immortality first drives Phil to sociopathic despair, but then it turns him benevolent.
48	* BigEater:
49	** Phil's discovered the greatest diet plan ever.
50	** And he doesn't think twice about {{smoking\|IsCool}} in the diner, either. Of course, Rita worries about his potential to get "cholesterol, lung cancer, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking love handles]]", but he can ''afford'' to disregard her advice.
51	--->'''Rita:''' I like to see a man of advancing years throwing caution to the wind. It's inspiring, in a way.\
52	'''Phil:''' My years are not advancing as fast as you might think.
53	* BlackComedy: The entire montage of Phil committing suicide over and over again, full stop. It's easy to feel sorry for him, but the movie still plays up the comedy of the suicides.
54	* BlahBlahBlah: Phil invokes this during one of his cycles.
55	-->'''Phil:''' Once again, the eyes of the nation have turned here to this... ''[silly voice]'' tiny village in Western Pennsylvania, blah, bl-blah, bl-blah!
56	* BoredWithInsanity: The [[GroundhogDayLoop endless repetition of February 2nd]] causes Phil to go through a breakdown period where he [[DespairEventHorizon repeatedly tries to kill himself]] and, when that doesn't work, [[AGodAmI declares his Godhood]] to Rita. He eventually settles down and becomes rather zen about the whole thing. So at ease with the whole thing does he get that he finally gets his one perfect day with Rita and snaps out of the loop, a much better and saner person for it.
57	* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Phil tries in vain to call Pittsburgh for assistance when he gets stuck in the blizzard.
58	-->'''Phil:''' Don't you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies, or celebrities? I'm both! I’m a celebrity in an emergency!
59	* BreakTheHaughty: At the beginning of the movie, Phil could really do with being taken down a peg or two. The time loop obliges, and then some -- but it also allows him to eventually put himself back together as a better person.
60	* BrickJoke: A subtle one. On his very first repeated day Phil suspects that the radio just plays yesterday's tape. Then he grows to hate Music/SonnyAndCher's "I Got You Babe", playing on the radio every repeated Groundhog Day morning. Finally, Phil progresses to February 3rd... only to be awakened by the same song (albeit a different segment, to indicate that the change has happened) at the same time again. Looks like they did use yesterday's tape after all.
61	** This is even lampshaded by the subsequent conversation between the radio hosts:
62	--->'''Host 1:''' Please, not again!\
63	'''Host 2:''' That is a great song! \
64	'''Host 1:''' It's not!
65	* BrokenRecord:
66	** [[Music/{{Cher}} "I Got You Babe."]] The same (and worse) could be said for the "Pennsylvania Polka."
67	** If you think about it, the time loop itself is a temporal version of this.
68	* BuffySpeak: Phil indulges in this during his initial newscast.
69	-->'''Phil:''' Big blizzard thing.
70	* BungledSuicide: Several of these, all committed by Phil after he decides there's NothingLeftToDoButDie. Even though each one ''does'' result in his death, they all count as bungled by virtue of the fact that none of them kills him for good and Phil always wakes up at 6:00 AM of Groundhog Day all over again the next morning.
71	-->'''Phil:''' ''[waking up after his first suicide]'' Aw, ''nuts''!
72	* BusmansHoliday: Double inverted for Phil, because he actually is in town on business as a weatherman, but then the lady who runs his bed and breakfast makes chit-chat about the weather and he goes full professional on her.
73	* ButtMonkey:
74	** Phil is this while he is being made to eat humble pie.
75	** Larry the cameraman is the butt of many jokes and is ultimately bought at a bachelor auction by a pair of old ladies for 25 cents.
76	* CareerVersusMan: Gender-flipped, Phil starts the film with the intention of going to a national broadcast (and leaving his current colleagues behind) and ends up agreeing to settle down in Punxatawney with Rita.
77	* CasanovaWannabe: Larry the cameraman does a pretty bad job picking up women.
78	* CatchPhrase: Ned's "Bing!"
79	* CharacterDevelopment: Phil goes from a grade-A {{Jerkass}} to a genuine NiceGuy over the course of the movie's running time — and it's believable. Of course, "running time" definitely doesn’t equal "real time" in this case.
80	* CharactersMostHatedSong: "I've Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher temporarily becomes this for Phil Conners after waking up to it ''every single day'' during his GroundhogDayLoop. Overlaps with RingRingCrunch, as this is his alarm clock song. Eventually, he comes to accept it.
81	* ChekhovsGag: To the question "Will you be checking out today, Mr. Connors?"
82	-->'''Phil:''' ''[day one]'' Chance of departure today: one hundred percent.\
83	'''Phil:''' ''[day two]'' Chance of departure today... eighty percent. Seventy-five to eighty?\
84	'''Phil:''' ''[day ???]'' Will you hold my room? I’m gonna stay another day.
85	* ClockKing: Phil initially uses this power for evil, namely by stealing money from an armored car. He later uses it for more benevolent purposes by becoming a sort of guardian angel to everybody.
86	* ClosedCircle: The very premise is an extreme time-based example of this trope, but there is also the blizzard blocking the road to Pittsburgh (and hence forcing Phil to stay in Punxsutawney), which acts as a more conventional spatial one.
87	* ComedicSociopathy:
88	** Phil eventually realizes that the time loop he's in allows him to live without consequences or guilt. He uses his situation to steal money from an armored car and weasel his way into sex with an attractive local woman. He also tries to weasel his way into sex with Rita, but his failure there spurs his CharacterDevelopment.
89	** The worst Phil ever does is deck Ned and kill Punxsutawney Phil in his first suicide attempt.
90	* ConvenientSlowDance: Although by that point, Phil is savvy enough to have deliberately arranged it.
91	** And the best part of this? He wasn't even really arranging it, and certainly not in an attempt to take advantage of Rita. The dance and all that follows is his reward for being able to earn genuine admiration and love from Rita and the citizens of Punxsutawney alike under no selfish pretenses.
92	* CosmicPlaything: Hinted at when Phil finally reveals to Rita the truth. He says he's pretty sure he's some type of god, but not TopGod (though even he doubts himself on this). In the grand scheme, it appears that whatever cosmic entity controls the universe decided it had had enough of Phil's constant jerk-ass shtick, and punished him by looping his day until he finally learned to lighten up.
93	* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Phil attempts CPR in an alley as a last-ditch effort to save a homeless old man, but it doesn't work. Nothing does, really. The man dies every time, regardless of what Phil does to save him.
94	* CreatorCameo: Creator/HaroldRamis plays a doctor. He makes a very good doctor, since most people associate him with [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Dr. Egon Spengler]].
95	* CursedWithAwesome: Phil grows to feel that his condition is this after a long time.
96	* DarkerAndEdgier: According to the director, they averted this trope by not having Phil go down the ''really'' dark path where he would be utterly cruel to people and even kill them without consequence.
97	* DeadpanSnarker:
98	** Phil, ''par excellence''.
99	--->'''Phil:''' Well, what if there ''is'' no tomorrow? ''[{{Beat}}]'' There wasn’t one ''today''!
100	** Larry gets his shots in, too.
101	--->'''Larry:''' I don’t know, Phil. Perhaps it's that giant blizzard we're ''not'' supposed to get.
102	** Rita shows this off on occasion, especially ''her'' way of getting rid of Ned.
103	--->'''Ned:''' I got that! (makes a cat noise)
104	* DeathAsComedy: The suicide montage is initially somewhat absurd but it is more bittersweet than this trope usually due to Phil's anguish.
105	* DeathMontage: A montage of Phil's numerous attempted suicides.
106	* DeathlessAndDebauched: Once Phil grasps the nature of the time loop he's been trapped in, he goes drunk-driving, binge-eats, seduces local women, and chain-smokes.
107	-->''I don't even have to floss!''
108	* DelusionsOfLocalGrandeur: [[TheGrinch Phil Connors]] is an arrogant and smarmy weatherman for a local TV news station in Pittsburgh before he [[CharacterDevelopment matures]].
109	-->'''Phil:''' For your information, Hairdo... there is a major network interested in me.\
110	'''Larry:''' [[DeadpanSnarker That would be the]] Home Shopping Network.
111	* DespairEventHorizon: Phil is eventually driven to the depths of suicidal despair by the endless repetition of February 2. Then, he's driven into even further depths of suicidal despair by the fact that suicide ''doesn't work''. Interestingly, it's when he's at his lowest that he eventually decides simply to tell Rita the truth of what's happening to him...and things begin to improve from that point on.
112	-->'''Phil:''' ''[to Rita, darkly]'' You want a prediction about the weather? You're asking the wrong Phil. I'm going to give you a prediction about this winter: it's going to be cold, it's going to be dark and it's going to last you for the rest of your lives.
113	* DoubleEntendre: When the old ladies whose flat tire Phil fixed come to thank (and praise) him:
114	--> '''Old lady:''' He's the fastest jack in Jefferson County!\
115	'''Rita:''' What was that about?\
116	'''Phil:''' I don't know, they've been hitting on me all day.
117	* DoubleStandard: This happens in the same scene as the ConvenientSlowDance entry. After Debbie and Fred Kleiser get the ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}}'' tickets from Phil, she kisses him on the lips. Fred then kisses Rita on the cheek, provoking an angry glare from Debbie. Justified, though, since Phil helped them get married and got them tickets, while Rita didn’t do anything for them.
118	* DrivenToSuicide: Several times. It doesn't take.
119	-->'''Phil:''' ''[sadly]'' I’ve killed myself so many times, I don’t even ''exist'' anymore.
120	* DumbassDJ:
121	** Say it with us now:
122	--->'''DJ 1:''' OK, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today!\
123	'''DJ 2:''' It's cold out there ''every'' day! {{What is this\|X}}, UsefulNotes/{{Miami}} Beach?!
124	** Phil plays this up at the TV studio:
125	--->'''Phil:''' The National Weather Service is calling for a [[BuffySpeak big blizzard thing]].
126	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:When Phil turns completely into a nice guy, he is finally able to wake up to a brand new day.]]
127	* ElectrifiedBathtub: One of Phil’s suicide attempts involves him filling a tub with water, putting toast in a toaster, and then dropping the activated toaster in the tub.
128	* EndlessWinter: It's always February 2, in a Northern Hemisphere setting.
129	-->'''Phil:''' There is no way this winter is EVER going to end, as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don't see any other way out. He's got to be stopped.
130	* EpiphanicPrison: The time loop can be thought of as this.
131	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Rita is first seen playing around with the weather blue screen, establishing her easy-going, playful personality.
132	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Parodied. When Phil’s stolen truck (with him in it) falls off a cliff, Larry suggests unconvincingly that he could still be alive. The truck then immediately explodes.
133	* EverythingButTheGirl: Closer to "Everything ''Before'' the Girl", but it counts.
134	* ExactWords: At one point, Rita joins Phil to see how he deals with eternity. She's told everything resets on February 3. However, when it's midnight, she's surprised, and asks him why there's no reset. He replies he never said it was at ''midnight''.
135	* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: PlayedWith. Technically, the film begins on February 1 in the afternoon and ends in the early morning of February 3. But the time loop made Phil spend at least ten years within this time span. The same could be said about a lot of the films capitalizing on GroundhogDayLoop, a [[TropeNamer trope named after]] and [[TropeCodifier codified by]] this film.
136	* EyeTake: Used to full effect by Bill Murray.
137	* FacePalm: Of the "covering my face with a pillow and punching it" variety.
138	-->'''Phil:''' So, what do I do?\
139	'''Psychiatrist:''' I think we should meet again. How's tomorrow for you?\
140	''[Phil slowly covers head with a pillow]''\
141	'''Psychiatrist:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Is that not good?]]\
142	''[Phil starts punching the pillow]''
143	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Phil will never be able to save the old homeless man. His realizing this is a key part of his decision to use the time loop for good.
144	* FailureMontage: Several. There’s one for Phil’s failed attempts at wooing Rita (with repeated slaps in the face), another for his attempts to save the old homeless person's life, and a particularly morbid one of him repeatedly committing suicide.
145	* FateWorseThanDeath:
146	** Zig-zagged. At first, Phil indulges in his ability to relive the same day over and over again, by overeating, sleeping with women, stealing money, and committing felonies. But later, his inability to form a bond with Rita slowly wears him down. He becomes depressed and tries to kill himself, only to get even more depressed when he realizes he'll keep looping even if he dies, but later, he decides to use his time loop for good.
147	** With the highway closed due to heavy snowfall, a cop tells Phil he can either return to Punxsutawney or freeze to death.
148	--->'''Phil:''' I'm thinking.
149	* FiveStagesOfGrief: Phil is going through precisely these stages as he learns how to deal with the eponymous day. First he can't believe it (denial), then he does all sorts of anti-social things like over-eating, robbing the armored car, sleeping with all of the attractive women in town, etc. (anger), then he tries to figure out what he can do (bargaining), then he just gives up and falls back into bed and/or tries to kill himself (despair), until finally he accepts the situation and becomes a better person.
150	* FlippingTheBird: Phil has an unusual way of doing a countdown with fingers.
151	* FlushingToiletScreamingShower: Subverted. Phil ''does'' scream in the guest house shower, but it's because the water is ice cold, and there is no toilet flush.
152	* {{Foil}}: Ned Ryerson, provoking the same reactions from Phil that Phil causes in others.
153	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: A perceptive viewer’s first clue [[spoiler:that Phil escaped the GroundhogDayLoop is that the radio is playing a different part of “I Got You Babe” when it turns on the final time]].
154	* ForeignRemake: Italian director Giulio Manfredonia [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374358/ remade the film]] in 2004 using Italian and Spanish actors. The plot is extremely similar with the two major differences being that it happens in the Canary Islands and that the protagonist has to film storks and has many scenes that follow the original exactly, but there are some notable differences, some of which make the Italian version less empathetic.
155	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
156	** The very first words out of Phil's mouth is where he'd want to be most of all. He's pointing on a weather map, but since we're looking at him live, he's pointing to blue screen: nothingness and nowhere.
157	** Phil notes that he's "going out on a limb here" when he says he thinks the snow won't hit them in Pennsylvania.
158	** A very clever one. Before Phil even enters the time loop, he complains about having to do the Groundhog Day Festival every year. During the first ceremony, Phil describes everything that’s going to happen before it does.
159	--->'''Phil:''' They do the same old shtick every year. Guy comes out with a big stick and raps on the door. They pull the little rat out. They talk to him. The rat talks back. And then they tell us what’s going to happen.
160	** Sound familiar? He begins doing that later in the film, especially with the armored-car heist.
161	** At the beginning of the movie, Phil’s co-anchor mentions a story about sex and violence in movies. [[spoiler:Both appear later on.]]
162	** Phil is quickly distracted from his assistant talking about what's going to happen as they leave town by Rita's antic's wearing a blue coat in front of the blue-screen.
163	** Rita saying that her ideal man plays an instrument and cries. By the end of the film, he's learned to play the piano, and when the curse is broken, he cries quietly.
164	** The groundhog sees his shadow. It's gonna be a looooong winter!
165	** When Phil catches a boy falling out of a tree and the boy runs away without thanking him, he says, "You little brat! You have never thanked me! See you tomorrow! Maybe!" The "maybe" from Phil's perspective means "Maybe I'll just let you fall and break your arm tomorrow," but from the viewer's perspective, [[spoiler:it also means "Maybe this is Phil's last day in the loop, and he won't need to save the boy tomorrow." Which, in fact, it is.]]
166	* FourthDateMarriage: From Rita's perspective she only got to know the old, JerkAss Phil recently, met the new, sophisticated Phil on Groundhog Day, and only began a relationship with him that night, the night before they agree to move in together.
167	* FrenchMaidOutfit: One of the women whom Phil seduces is dressed thus because she thinks she’s going to a costume party.
168	* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: Rita and Phil start as this, as Rita finds Punxsutawney and the Groundhog Day festivities charming while Phil finds it nauseating. As things progress, Rita eventually encourages Phil to see his loops in a more positive light, leading to his eventual redemption.
169	* AGodAmI: Part of Phil's CharacterDevelopment centers on this trope.
170	** Act I, [[PlayedForLaughs mocked]] and simultaneously foreshadowed: Phil has such an ego, he denies there’s a blizzard because ''[[InsaneTrollLogic he makes the weather]]''.
171	** Act II, [[JustifiedTrope thanks to his apparent]] ResurrectiveImmortality, Phil seriously considers this as the reason for his situation.
172	--->'''Rita:''' You're God?\
173	'''Phil:''' I'm ''a'' god -- I'm not ''the'' God. I don't think.
174	** Finally, Act III really begins when this trope is [[InvertedTrope inverted hard,]] in the heartbreaking sequence of Phil's ''repeated'' failures to save the life of the homeless elderly man. When Phil finally truly realizes he ''isn't'' God, he begins to grow as a man.
175	* GoldenEnding: A very rare non-videogame, non-interactive-media example. After being trapped in the loop for God knows how long and getting God knows how many endings, Phil manages to help everyone in the town with all of their problems, woo Rita, and bring about a perfect day. Only then does the loop break. Unfortunately, even on a perfect day someone just has to die.
176	** GainaxEnding: Essays have noted that Phil's non-committal. ''Maybe'' they'll stay in Punxsutawney. Maybe they'll rent to begin. The song is "It's ''Almost'' Like Being In Love". It's a clue that now there are consequences to actions. (For example, that marriage Phil helped doesn't seem like it'll last.)
177	* GoodFeelsGood: Phil eventually settles into Punxatawney, creating a perfect day where he helps people just for the sake of helping them, even if he'll have to do it all over again tomorrow. He learns to find joy in trying to create the perfect day for everyone around him, over and over.
178	* GoodSamaritan: [[spoiler:Phil eventually becomes one once he becomes resigned to the loop. He starts doing good deeds, over and over, and adding new ones as he finds new opportunities each day. He saves a boy from falling, saves the mayor from choking in a restaurant, he buys enough insurance from Ned to help Ned meet his quota (which becomes even more amazing when you realize that this is February 2), etc. Eventually, the whole town loves him, but even this alone can’t break the cycle. Only when he becomes such a nice guy that Rita truly falls in love with him does tomorrow come.]]
179	* GoshDangItToHeck: This is one of Ned's annoying speaking mannerisms.
180	-->'''Ned:''' Don't you tell me you don't remember me, because I sure as heck-fire remember you!
181	* GroundhogDayLoop: This film is the [[invoked]] {{Trope Namer\|s}} by virtue of its basic premise of the film as Phil keeps looping back to February 2. This film also indirectly named the trope GroundhogPeggySue.
182	* TheHedonist: Phil becomes this in some of the early cycles when he realizes that no tomorrow means no consequence. He takes the opportunity to indulge in unhealthy food, wild behavior, and bedding various women through what amounts to SaveScumming. The BFI Modern Classics analysis of ''Groundhog Day'' notes no one could do absolute hedonism like Bill Murray, such as shoving an entire pastry into his maw before even chewing.
183	* HappilyFailedSuicide: Phil's many suicides become this retroactively.
184	* HardTruthAesop: [[TheDulcineaEffect Getting the girl will solve your problems]]. Or "[[EntitledToHaveYou solving your problems will get you the girl]]." Neither one's all that family-friendly, but the core concept -- that you ''can't'' move forward without solving your problems -- is quite sound. Both assume Phil's problems were solved by getting the girl, which is disproved by the second-to-last loop, when he ''does'' get Rita, but the loop continues. In fact, when Phil ''gives up'' trying to seduce Rita, and becomes a whole person, he does get her.
185	* HeelFaceTurn: Even if it did take ''thirty to forty years'' from his perspective.
186	* HeldGaze: Several happen between Phil and Rita over the course of the film, mainly when they’re playing in the snow together.
187	* HeroicBSOD:
188	** While on camera:
189	--->'''Phil:''' This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a '''rat'''. ''[raises his voice]'' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to]] ''[[https://time.com/3685895/groundhog-day-history/ eat]]'' [[TruthInTelevision it.]] ''[turns to the crowd]'' [[{{Hypocrite}} You’re hypocrites, all of you!]]
190	** [[FromBadToWorse A few loops later...]]
191	--->'''Phil:''' Once again the eyes of the nation have turned here to this.. ''[silly voice]'' tiny village in Western Pennsylvania, [[BlahBlahBlah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...]] ''[seriously]'' There is no way that this winter... is ''ever'' going to end, as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don’t see any other way out. He’s gotta be stopped. ''[beat]'' And I have to stop him.
192	** Then he drives off a cliff, and the loop repeats.
193	--->'''Phil:''' Ah, nuts!
194	* HopeSpot:
195	** Invoked by Larry after the results of Phil's initial HeroicBSOD.
196	--->'''Larry:''' He ''might'' be OK.\
197	''[[[StuffBlowingUp Phil's truck promptly explodes]]]''\
198	'''Larry:''' ...Well, no, probably not now.
199	** The day in which Phil tells Rita about the time loop and ''convinces'' her it’s real makes you think it’ll be the final loop. When he wakes up afterward, the audience is more disappointed than Phil that the ResetButton has hit ''again''.
200	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Subverted. While the endless time loop does take place on Groundhog Day, it is not intended to terrify or harm Phil in any way. Instead, it ends up making him a better person.
201	* HumansAreMorons: This is one of opening-act Phil's traits.
202	-->'''Phil:''' People like blood sausage: people are morons.
203	* {{Hypocrite}}: Phil accuses the townspeople of being hypocrites on one of the loops after berating them for their repeated celebration of the ceremony.
204	* ICannotSelfTerminate: In desperation and despair, Phil tries to end being trapped in the time loop by ending his own life. However, he always wakes up alive and well next time 6 am rolls around.
205	* IdentifyingTheBody: After one of Phil's suicides Rita is shown identifying his body at the morgue, showing that the time loop isn't entirely dependent on him. Also played for laughs a bit, as his former cameraman notes it's a tragic loss while his body language screams [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing "Ding dong the witch is dead!"]].
206	* IgnoredConfession: During the loop where Phil demonstrates his intimate knowledge of Punxsutawney’s residents to Rita and she stays in his room with him, he confesses his love for her and kisses her on the cheek, but she doesn’t hear any of it due to drifting off towards sleep. His awakening the next day marks his decision to use the loop to better himself.
207	* ImThinkingItOver: Phil really hates the idea of going back to Punxsutawney.
208	-->'''Cop:''' Now you can either go back to Punxsutawney, or you can go ahead and freeze to death. It's your choice. So what's it gonna be?\
209	''[beat]''\
210	'''Phil:''' I'm thinking...
211	* IncessantMusicMadness: Phil's clock radio becomes this after not too long.
212	-->'''Sonny and Cher:''' THEN PUT YOUR LI’L HAND IN MINE... ♫
213	* IndignantSlap: There is a montage of Rita slapping Phil as he repeatedly tries and fails to use the GroundhogDayLoop to get her to fall in love with him.
214	* InherentlyFunnyWord: Well, Phrase: Gobbler's Knob, site of the groundhog ceremony. It’s a real place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, too. It just doesn’t look like it does in the movie because it wasn’t filmed in the real Punxsutawney. Punxsutawney: ''that’s'' a funny word, too!
215	-->'''Rita:''' ''[on the perfect man]'' He'll change poopy diapers.\
216	'''Phil:''' Does he have to use the word "poopy"?
217	* InstantExpert: Not to the audience, since Phil puts plenty of hours in, but he certainly appears this way to other characters.
218	-->'''Piano Teacher:''' And you’ve ''never'' played before?\
219	'''Phil:''' [[ExactWords Not before today.]]
220	* IronicEcho: The DJ chatter, twice by Phil. The first time, he repeats it joyously when he escapes jail via the loop; the second time, it’s a DarkReprise when he's reached his DespairEventHorizon and [[DrivenToSuicide about to kill himself]].
221	* IsItSomethingYouEat:
222	-->'''Phil:''' ''[to the bed and breakfast owner]'' Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster?\
223	'''Mrs. Lancaster:''' I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.
224	* ItsAllAboutMe: Phil has this in spades at the beginning even going so far as calling himself "the talent". As Rita notes, "egocentrism is [his] defining characteristic."
225	* JeopardyIntelligenceTest: Played with. After a few days, the other guests at the B&B start to think Phil’s a genius because he answers every question on that day’s edition of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' correctly, but, of course, we know he only knows all the answers because he’s seen that particular episode [[GroundhogDayLoop over and over again]].
226	** It gets to the point where he answers one of the questions ''before it's even finished being asked'', which visibly creeps one of the B&B guests out. Though this is TruthInTelevision, since some viewers tend to read the answers quickly before Alex finishes reading them and give the response quickly.
227	* {{Jerkass}}: Phil most obviously, Ned somewhat less intentionally. It’s also made pretty clear that Larry’s a bit of a jerk as well. Phil later evolves into a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold pretty nice guy]] thanks to his CharacterDevelopment. Creator/RogerEbert notes in his ''Great Movies'' retrospective of the film that it is Murray’s deadpan-Jerkassery that is vital to the film; had a lesser actor taken it [[LargeHam over the top]], the film would not have worked.
228	* KarmaHoudini: PlayedWith. Phil initially exploits the time loop to do whatever he wants to whomever he wants at any time he wants and avoid the consequences; he ends up repeatedly robbing, seducing, attacking, cheating, and manipulating the townsfolk seemingly without punishment. Over the course of the movie, however, it becomes clear that the time loop ''is'' his punishment — not only for his actions in the movie, but for his whole Jerkass nature before the day began. Since all his misdeeds are undone at the end of every day, it hardly matters in the end. A deleted idea that the loop was the result of a curse from a jilted ex-lover underscores this point.
229	* KickTheDog:
230	** Phil does this to everyone around him towards the beginning of the movie.
231	** Larry, too. At first, he just comes off as a guy who won’t put up with Phil's crap, but the scene where he steals back part of his tip money is supposed to indicate that he's not a very nice person.
232	* LackOfEmpathy: The second act of the film is all about Phil learning, painfully, that you can't successfully substitute fake empathy for the real thing no matter how much effort you put into it.
233	* LargeHam: Ned Ryerson in contrast to the deadpan Phil.
234	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: During one of Phil's later time loops, Mozart's ''Piano Sonata in C'' plays. It turns out to be a little girl playing it for her piano teacher before she's kicked out when [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Phil lays down $1,000 for a single piano lesson]].
235	* LoveRedeems: [[spoiler:This is how Phil escapes the time loop.]]
236	* MagicRealism: The setting is extremely mundane, with the time loop the only supernatural element.
237	* ManipulativeBastard: Phil becomes one when initially trying to seduce Rita by molding his likes and dislikes to match Rita's.
238	* ManlyTears: Phil is driven to tears when he finds that, try as he might, he can't stop the old man from dying.
239	** He also cries again when he finally wakes on February 3rd.
240	* MeaningfulName: Phil having the same name as the groundhog, and his job being to report the weather. It could be construed that Phil is in the time loop until he can no longer see ''his'' own ‘shadow’ as well.
241	* MemoryWipeExploitation: Phil seduces Nancy by asking her questions about where she went to school, her teachers, etc. then on the next iteration of the GroundhogDayLoop pretending to be an old classmate of hers. He attempts to do something similar with Rita, learning her likes and interests on one iteration and pretending to have similar interests on the next. However, this never works with Rita, and after many, many failed attempts, he eventually gives up.
242	* MenActWomenAre: Phil spends possibly thousands of years learning new skills and experiencing personal growth before finally breaking the loop by proving himself worthy of female LoveInterest Rita. Rita is the same vaguely pleasant person at the end of the film as she is in the beginning -- then again, for her, only ''two'' days have passed.
243	* MenDontCry:
244	** Rita says that her ideal man wouldn’t be afraid of crying.
245	--->'''Phil:''' This is a ''man'' we're talking about, right?
246	** He ''himself'' [[SubvertedTrope subverts this belief]] later when he finally [[ManlyTears learns how precious life is]] through his futile attempts to save a homeless old man from dying of old age.
247	** [[spoiler:He also cries on the morning of February 3 — ''after'' 6:00 AM.]]
248	* MentalTimeTravel: One of the possible explanations for [[GroundhogDayLoop the time loop]].
249	* MistakenForGay: Phil pulls one on Ned one day just to scare him off.
250	* MistakenForQuake: The old ladies with the flat tire think there’s one when Phil jacks their car.
251	* {{Montage}}: Used effectively a couple of times to speed up the consequences of some of Phil's actions.
252	* MoodWhiplash: Phil’s protracted series of suicides and the montage in which he tries to save the old man are a bit jarring.
253	* MotorMouth: Ned. Phil doesn’t have a chance to say anything [[spoiler:until he gives Ned the advice to TalkToTheFist]].
254	* MySisterIsOffLimits: Ned apparently dated Phil's sister until Phil told him not to.
255	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: Yes, his name is Phil. Like the groundhog that [[TruthInTelevision actually lives in Punxsutawney]].
256	* NewBodyOldAbilities: Or a variation thereon. Like everything else in Punxsutawney, Phil's body resets itself every morning at 6:00am.
257	* NiceGuy: What Phil finally becomes when he grows to love ''all'' of humanity, Rita included..
258	* NoAntagonist: Here is a heavily flawed man who is trapped in a time loop, and goes through the same day all over again indefinitely, until he learns to become a better person. The film has no villain, since Phil is at worst a {{Jerkass}} AntiHero, and the time loop is simply an unexplained event.
259	* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: As the time loop gradually grinds away his sanity, to occupy himself Phil indulges in all manner of pleasure, and sees winning over the strong-willed Rita in a single day [[ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou as a challenge he can't refuse]]. When this fails, repeatedly, [[NothingLeftToDoButDie a long spiral into depression begins]], until Rita constructively suggests he strive for a better outlook on life. Eventually, using his knowledge of the day's events, Phil is determined [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong to make everyone's day a great one.]]
260	* NoEndorHolocaust:
261	** The movie glosses over the immense psychological strain that would be placed on Phil getting used to surprises again after living a few decades' worth of the same day.
262	** Harold Ramis stated that Phil lived the equivalent of ''10,000 years''. So, whatever psychological state Phil was in, he passed it. Maybe he committed suicide for a few hundred years? Towards the end of the [[invoked]] DVDCommentary, Ramis suggests that, based on how well Phil can play the piano now, he was probably learning for ten years. The time frame is open to interpretation.
263	** It takes several years to learn a language to fluency. It is implied he has learned French, Italian, and Spanish, although we also know Phil is not above inflating his credentials.
264	* NoodleIncident:
265	** Phil mentions he "stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted and burned" himself, but we only get to see the electrocution.
266	** Ned Ryerson mentions a few in short succession:
267	--->'''Ned:''' Ned! ''Ryerson''! "Needlenose Ned"? "Ned the Head"? C’mon, buddy. Case Western High. ''Ned Ryerson'': I did the whistling-belly-button trick at the high school talent show? Bing! ''Ned Ryerson'': got the shingles real bad senior year, almost didn’t graduate? Bing, again. ''Ned Ryerson'': I dated your sister Mary Pat a couple times until [[MySisterIsOffLimits you told me not to anymore]]? Well?
268	%%NOTE: The extra "Ned Ryerson"s in the text immediately above are not artefacts from cutting and pasting — Ned is repeatedly saying his name and then dropping a story to try to jog Phil’s memory.%%
269	* NothingLeftToDoButDie: [[spoiler:An extremely bored and depressed Phil kills himself multiple times. Then, in a subsequent scene, he lists each one to Rita calmly as a shocked waitress looks on. HilarityEnsues.]]
270	* OffTheRails: Phil tries this by [[spoiler:kidnapping the groundhog, going on a car chase, and getting ''both'' of them killed.]] [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn’t work.]]
271	* OhCrap:
272	** The first time it loops, Phil reacts to the radio "Put your little hand in mine" by simply saying "Nice going, boys, [[BrokenRecord you’re playing yesterday’s tape]]", but then they talk about the Groundhog Day celebration. When he looks out the window, he sees ''there’s no snow from the blizzard''. That's his first OhCrap moment, but it’s certainly not the last.
273	** Larry mouths "Oh, shit!" when he sees who bought him at the bachelor auction for twenty-five cents.
274	* OhNoNotAgain: Phil obviously ''looks'' like this on the first several loops. But hilariously, part of how we know he broke the loop when it's finally February 3 is one of the radio hosts he (and, this time, Rita) wakes up to says this almost word-for-word (in addition to "I Got You Babe" by Music/SonnyAndCher being at a much earlier point in the song when the radio alarm goes off this time):
275	-->'''D.J. #2:''' Oh, please, not again.\
276	'''D.J. #1:''' That is a great song! Don't listen to this man...
277	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: It's never established where the character of Rita is from, but there are moments when Andie [=MacDowell=] noticeably drops into her South Carolina drawl.
278	* OpenHeartDentistry: The only person with a psychology degree in town for Phil to visit is primarily a family therapist.
279	* OverlyLongHug: One of the recurring events of Phil's endless single day loop is having to run into his annoying old classmate Ned every single morning. After several unsuccessful loops of becoming increasingly abrasive to Ned, including punching him out a few times, Phil tries a different approach of being too nice to Ned, pulling him in for an uncomfortably long hug that causes Ned to back off.
280	* PetTheDog: When Phil and the crew arrive in town, he loudly complains how much he hates the hotel where they’re staying, when Rita informs him she knew he didn’t like it and got him a reservation at a quaint bed and breakfast. After hearing this, Phil seems surprised at the act of kindness and sincerely (if smugly) thanks her for it. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the only decent thing Phil does prior to character development.
281	* PostWakeUpRealization: Phil always hears the same snippet of "I Got You Babe" on his alarm clock radio while he's in his GroundhogDayLoop. The morning after his "perfect day", he hears that song yet again, but suddenly bolts awake when he realizes it's a different part of the song and he's broken the cycle.
282	* ThePowerOfLove: Only by winning Rita’s heart does Phil [[spoiler:break the time loop]].
283	* RailroadTracksOfDoom: On his night of lawbreaking, Phil actually drives on the tracks towards an oncoming train. He doesn't know at the time that even a collision would have no consequences, though.
284	* RedundantRomanceAttempt: On the original day, Phil's first date with Rita goes great, so he wants it to continue. When he tries to force the same reaction during the next loop, his forwardness pushes her away. He finally gets it right by being himself again, mistakes and all, and not forcing any outcome.
285	* RenaissanceMan: Through his massively-long ordeal throughout the GroundhogDayLoop, Phil becomes a master of many skills, many more than any one person could master without going insane from overwork.
286	* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Phil must have superhuman memory to be able to memorize and keep straight in his head his encyclopedic knowledge of all the minor details of the day, the town, its inhabitants, and Rita's life.
287	* ResetButton: The clock turning six starts the day over.
288	* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Punxsutawney Phil is a rather pleasant-looking groundhog that Rita fawns over during the news broadcast.
289	* {{Radio}}: How both DJ #1 and 2 start the loop.
290	--> '''D.J. #1:''' Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.\
291	'''D.J. #2:''' It's coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?\
292	'''D.J. #1:''' Not hardly. And you know, you can expect hazardous travel later today with that, you know, that, uh, that blizzard thing.\
293	'''D.J. #2:''' That blizzard - thing. That blizzard - thing. Oh, well, here's the report! The National Weather Service is calling for a "big blizzard thing!"\
294	'''D.J. #1:''' Yessss, they are. But you know, there's another reason why today is especially exciting.\
295	'''D.J. #2:''' Especially cold!\
296	'''D.J. #1:''' Especially cold, okay, but the big question on everybody's lips...\
297	'''D.J. #2:''' On their chapped lips...\
298	'''D.J. #1:''' On their chapped lips, right: Do ya think Phil is gonna come out and see his shadow?\
299	'''D.J. #2:''' Punxsutawney Phil!\
300	'''D.J. #1:''' That's right, woodchuck-chuckers - it's...\
301	'''D.J. #1, D.J. #2:''' [[TitleDrop GROUNDHOG DAY!]]
302	* RiddleForTheAges: Just how long was Phil in the loop? If the character even knows himself, he never mentions it. The question is so hotly discussed among fans that the movie's page on Wikipedia has a section for it. "Official" answers from the producers vary from two weeks to a decade to an entire lifetime to ten thousand years.
303	* RingRingCRUNCH:
304	** Phil ends up doing this to his clock radio several times as a way to vent frustration from his situation.
305	** [[spoiler:When he’s finally out of the loop, the song starts at a totally different part with the alarm, and the radio show host says, "[[{{Irony}} Oh no. Not again.]]"]]
306	* RousseauWasRight: The film’s message: there is love, kindness and decency in ''everyone''; you just need time to bring it out.
307	* SanitySlippage: Phil is definitely this when he kidnaps the groundhog. {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d by Larry.
308	-->'''Larry:''' He's out of his gourd!
309	* SaveScumming: An unusual non-video-game example of this trope.
310	-->'''Phil:''' Want some white chocolate?\
311	'''Rita:''' ''Yecch'', makes me sick.\
312	'''Phil:''' ''[to self]'' No white chocolate.
313	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Happens on one of the loops during the ceremony.
314	-->'''Phil:''' This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a ''rat''. [raises his voice] What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to ''eat it''.
315	* TheScapegoat: Suffering a SanitySlippage after countless loops, [[InsaneTrollLogic Phil becomes convinced that the groundhog is somehow responsible for his predicament because it's always the central figure of the particular day he's stuck in]] (since, you know, it's Groundhog Day) and that it always predicts a cold, long winter. And thus, he kidnaps the groundhog and [[TakingYouWithMe kills it along with himself]] by driving off a cliff. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption It didn't break the loop]].
316	* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Phil does this when he tries to have a shower but only cold water comes out and pours on him.
317	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong:
318	** The many errands Phil runs as he spends longer and longer in the loop.
319	** Subverted in that some of his errands have no lasting effect beyond February 2. For example, the young couple whom Phil sends to see Wrestlemania may still be a failed marriage, since Debbie was having second thoughts for a reason. Phil has no idea what the long-lasting implications are because, well, there weren't any in the time loop.
320	** And subverted with the homeless man, since no matter what Phil does, he dies in the loop.
321	* ShoutOut:
322	** Very subtle, but Phil stuffing his face with the cake in the Tip Top gluttony scene, his guzzling from a bottle of Jack Daniels as he watches ''Jeopardy'' (for the nth time), and his music act at the end with the Ray-Bans all echo great moments from Bill Murray’s fellow ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' alumnus, Creator/JohnBelushi.
323	** Also, his "Be the hat!" line spoken to Rita as he's trying to coach her in precise throwing of cards into a hat is a shout-out to the similar "Be the ball!" line in ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'', a film also shot by Creator/HaroldRamis and featuring Creator/BillMurray as well.
324	** When Phil tells Rita that he's a god, his "stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned" list echoes Vigo the Carpathian's RasputinianDeath in ''Ghostbusters II''.
325	** When passing by the man in the hallway, to end his conversation, Phil quotes "Work Without Hope" by Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge.
326	* ShownTheirWork: A small example, but one which many creators don't bother to check: One of the old ladies Phil had changed the tire for calls him the "fastest jack in Jefferson County." Punxsutawney is indeed in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.
327	* {{Slipstream\|Genre}}: There is no in-universe explanation for the time loop. It just... happens to someone. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen An early draft of the screenplay]] had the time loop caused by a curse put upon Phil by his ex-girlfriend, but that was dropped.
328	* SmallNameBigEgo: Phil before the loop. He invariably responded to greetings with "Hi, thanks for watching."
329	-->'''Larry:''' ''[practically giggling]'' Did he actually call himself "the talent"? [[note]]While the way Phil comes across is indeed egotistical, "talent" ''is'' actually the term used in the industry. Though as noted here and in other entries Phil has a vastly inflated ego for a weatherman, and so the sentiment behind Larry's comment is true.[[/note]]
330	* SnowMeansLove: Several times. Alternately, exactly once. Time travel.
331	* SpitefulGluttony: Upon realizing the truth of his situation, Phil has a period of hedonism, gorging himself on all the junk food he wants, because why not? If the citizens of Punxsutawney are repulsed by it, all the better to Phil.
332	* StalkerWithACrush: When Rita catches on that Phil is memorizing all the small details of her personal preferences (in order to romance her) she concludes this is what's going on, and asks if he's been calling up her friends.
333	* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: At first, Sonny and Cher’s "I Got You Babe" may seem like a random pop song on Phil's radio, but as the film goes along, it gets a sinister edge to it.
334	-->''I got you, babe. I got you, babe.''
335	** [[spoiler:When the loop is broken, the lyrics are: "I got you, babe / They say our love won't pay the rent...", indicating Rita is with him now.]]
336	** During Phil's unsuccessful attempts to seduce Rita in the snow, Music/RayCharles' "You Don’t Know Me" starts playing.
337	* StrawNihilist: It only takes a few days for Phil to become this. It takes him a few thousand years to grow out of it.
338	* SwitchingPOV: Phil is the center of the attention for almost the entire movie. There are short scenes where he is not involved, but will be or just was in the scene. The only glaring difference in point-of-view is one scene [[spoiler:where Rita and Larry identify Phil’s corpse]] at the morgue. [[spoiler:Although his body is still technically in the scene, so the film arguably just follows his corpse’s point-of-view instead.]]
339	* TalkAboutTheWeather: Mrs. Lancaster tries to make small talk with Phil by talking about the weather — unfortunately, he’s a weather forecaster in a bad mood.
340	-->'''Mrs. Lancaster:''' There's talk of a blizzard.\
341	'''Phil:''' We may catch a break and that blizzard’s gonna blow right by us. All of this moisture coming up out of the south by midday is probably gonna push on to the east of us and at high altitudes it’s gonna crystallize and probably give us what we call snow. Probably will be some accumulation but here in Punxsutawney our high is gonna get up to about thirty today, teens tonight. Chance of precipitation about twenty percent today, twenty percent tomorrow. Did you want to talk about the weather or were you just making chit-chat?
342	* TalkToTheFist: Phil dismisses Ned this way once just to make his daily encounter with him brief.
343	* TechnicallyASmile: During the second ceremony, Phil makes an awkward, nervous fake smile at the end of his intro.
344	* ThankingTheViewer: InUniverse: A couple walk by and the guy says, "Hey, it's Phil Connors," and Phil says, "Thanks, thanks for watching." The couple don't notice he's sabotaging the station broadcast truck.
345	* Three…Two…One…:Phil steals a bag from the armoured truck by knowing exactly when the hapless guards will be distracted by the dropped pennies, and that their incompetence is so great that they won’t remember how many bags of money they had in the van until later in the day. Phil counts down from 10 as he crosses the road, commenting in advance on what is about to happen.
346	* TimeLoopFatigue: Phil becomes so exhausted by his time loop that he [[DrivenToSuicide attempts suicide]] multiple times. The loop continues anyway and he always comes straight back to life whenever 6 am rolls around again. The main problem Phil has is that he's trapped in this one Pennsylvania town and all the highways are closed off due to the weather. There's only so much he can do before he gets bored out of his skull.
347	* TimeTravelingJerkass: Phil. He gets pretty nasty when he realizes he can do whatever he wants and no one will remember it, leading to (in no particular order) rudeness, assault and battery, robbery, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking poor table manners]], suicide, and [[ItMakesSenseInContext vehicular mayhem with a groundhog]]. Learning to make the most of his imprisonment is [[CharacterDevelopment what leads him to become a better person by making the most of the loop as it occurs]]. Even so, his dickishness is PlayedForLaughs and used more to depict Phil as going through something of a WishFulfilment phase -- the filmmakers deliberately kept Phil from engaging in [[MoralEventHorizon truly horrific crimes]] because it would have made it impossible to redeem him in the audience's eyes.
348	* TitleDrop: Groundhog Day gets brought up many times because of the setting.
349	* TookALevelInBadass: After he accepts that he's trapped in the time loop and that he can't have Rita, that there's no escape, he dedicates himself to self improvement. He starts reading every book he can find, takes piano lessons, learn to make ice sculptures...
350	** Subverted when he dedicates himself to saving the homeless man. In the end, the old man dies no matter what Phil tries and he has to accept that there are limits to what he can accomplish in Punxatawney on February 2.
351	* TookALevelInKindness: Phil Connors is contemptuous toward almost everyone and makes no attempt to hide it. Fate decides to put him in a GroundhogDayLoop (TropeNamer), causing him to re-live the same day over and over again. He decides to help other people avoid being hurt, betters himself by learning to play the piano and create ice sculptures and falls in love. When he has improved his personality enough he's freed from the loop.
352	* {{Understatement}}: Phil does this at least once to avoid talking about his problem.
353	-->'''Rita:''' What did you do today?\
354	'''Phil:''' Oh, same old same old.
355	* UngratefulBastard: Throughout the loop he saves the same kid from falling from a tree. He snarks at the little brat for never thanking him once.
356	-->'''Phil:''' What do you say? What do you say? ''[kid runs off]'' You little brat, you have ''never'' thanked me! I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe!
357	* TheUnreveal:
358	** The audience never finds out how Phil got trapped in the time loop. He blames the groundhog at one point, but that was after a good deal of SanitySlippage [[spoiler:and killing it didn't break the loop anyway.]]
359	** Also, it is never explained why Phil was wearing his bathrobe in the diner when he finally told Rita all about his conundrum.
360	* ViewersAreGoldfish: Subverted by this film and many others that use GroundhogDayLoop plot devices, as each repetition has variations.
361	* ViewersAreMorons: The first time Phil meets the guy in the hallway of the B&B who asks him when he thinks spring is going to come, when Phil tells him "March 21st" the guy [[DontExplainTheJoke responds he thinks that actually is the first day of spring]] because the audience can't be expected to know the significance of that date on their own.
362	* WeatherReportOpening: The first scene shows Phil in the studio giving a weather report to the TV audience.
363	* WhamLine: Rather, what Phil and Rita hear when they wake up finally on February 3, with a different (specifically, earlier) part of "I Got You Babe":
364	-->'''D.J. #2:''' Oh no. Not again.
365	* WhammyBid: Rita empties out her checking account to purchase Phil at the bachelor auction.
366	-->'''Rita:''' Three hundred thirty-nine dollars and eighty-eight cents! [[note]]For the curious, that's $615.27 when adjusted for inflation.[[/note]]
367	* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: It’s six AM in this case. True, Phil relives Groundhog Day proper every day, but it's from 6:00 AM February 2 to 5:59 AM February 3. {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d once when Rita says she expected one of them to disappear at midnight.
368	* AWorldHalfFull: {{Invoked}} by Gus, when he comments Phil has a "glass-half-empty" mindset.
369	* WrongRestaurant: Phil Connors gets pulled over by the cops for driving recklessly. When the cop walks up to his car window to question him, Phil acts like he's at a drive-thru and asks the cop for a burgers and fries.[[note]]... And some flapjacks![[/note]]
370	* WrongNameOutburst: When Phil is seducing Nancy, he calls her Rita. ''Twice.''
371	* YouCantFightFate: Phil has a hard time accepting that for all his time-repeating abilities, he can't change the fact that the old homeless man always dies.
372	-->'''Phil:''' What did he die of?\
373	'''Doctor:''' He was just old, it was just his time... sometimes, people just die.\
374	'''Phil:''' Not today.
375	----
376

Context Film / GroundhogDay