Groundhog Day is a classic comedy movie, but it also works on a deeper level. Bill Murray plays a weatherman named Phil Connors who travels to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. Connors is an arrogant, conceited man who wants nothing more than to get out of town and back home as soon as possible. Stuck in Punxsutawney due to a blizzard he predicted would pass over them, he finds himself stuck in a time loop, repeating Groundhog Day indefinitely without rhyme or reason. The movie follows his journey and the changes he goes through along the way.
When he first realizes he is reliving the previous day, Connors is confused. As the day progresses, he finds it hard to accept but eventually does so after spending a night out with a few locals. He then decides to live it up and do whatever he wants: driving through a mailbox, running from the police, driving on the railroad tracks, stealing money, manipulating the townsfolk for his own purposes, etc. Nobody else is aware of the time loop, which allows Connors to get away with all of these antics. He gets the big thrills out of his system before turning his attention to his producer, Rita. Gradually, he learns about her and her interests and tries to create the perfect day so as to seduce her. However, he constantly fails and causes her to storm off in a rage, leaving him alone every night. This drives him to sadness and anger shortly thereafter. As the time loop continues, he finds his situation increasingly intolerable and tries to end it by repeatedly taking his own life in various ways, only to find himself waking up every day as if nothing happened.
Connors is unable to make any true progress until he accepts his situation, surrenders to it, and begins to turn his focus away from himself and toward those around him. He starts by giving the poor, elderly man he passed by every day a large sum of money and getting some snacks for his coworkers. Late one night, he goes back to the elderly man and takes him to the hospital. While there, he is shocked and saddened to learn that the man has died. The next day, he buys him a hearty meal at a restaurant and fails despite trying desperately to revive him outside. Aside from his inability to save the elderly man, Connors is quite successful at his other positive ventures: he saves a boy from falling out of a tree, replaces a flat tire for three women, performs the Heimlich maneuver on the guy in charge of the Groundhog Day festivities, and performs other charitable acts around town. In the process, he gains the affection of the townsfolk and truly becomes a better person. Where his earlier attempts to manipulate Rita into liking him failed, his sincere efforts to be a better person and live a good life draw her to him. They end up having a quiet but enjoyable and genuine time together and he awakens the next morning to find that he is finally freed from the time loop. The movie ends with the two of them heading out to enjoy the day and planning to move to Punxsutawney as they have both grown fond of the town and the people who live there.
The message I took away from Groundhog Day is the importance of recognizing when I need to learn a lesson, figuring out what it is, and then making it a regular practice in my life. In the movie, Connors is freed from the time loop and allowed to continue his life once he learns to think of himself less and think of others more; his priorities in life were out of balance and only after he got them in order was he set free. Those who, like Connors, became stuck in one season of life with no end in sight later realized that they were kept there until they learned whatever lesson they needed before they could move on. I’ve gone through many such seasons and that pattern seems to have been present in each of them. My own experience as well as the uplifting message of the movie affirm for me that the rough times contain a necessary lesson and making it part of my life is the way out. That’s why Groundhog Day is one of the best and most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen.