Logline of Groundhog Day: A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
Writer: Danny Rubin
Director: Harold Ramis
Genre: Fantasy Comedy
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott
Release Date: February 12, 1993
Script Can Be Found Here
As part of a weekly series, I’m looking at some of the WGA’s List of Top 101 Screenplays to see how everyone’s favorite screenwriting formula shows up. I neither condone nor condemn the framework. I’m just deeply curious about how it shows up in modern, great films.
Rank on WGA List: #27
“Groundhog Dog” Summary:
Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is a smug and cynical weatherman assigned to cover the annual Groundhog Day celebrations with his new producer Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott). Hating this assignment, he makes it known that he will be moving on to a new job.
The next morning, he wakes up to Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” does the report on Punxsutawney Phil, and despite his previous prediction, a blizzard strikes the area and prevents all travel out of Punxsutawney. Unable to leave, he has to spend another night in the town.
Or so he thinks.
He wakes up the next day to relive Groundhog Day again (!). Although he is at first confused and somewhat frustrated, he begins to exploit the situation for his personal gain. With each day, he tries various strategies to break the cycle and tries to court Rita by learning of her interests and quirks and then integrating them into his conversation. His slick efforts don’t exactly pay off in breaking the cycle, but a gradual change in demeanor does. By learning new skills, saving lives, helping people in need and becoming a member of the community, he gradually breaks the cycle. When Phil carves an ice sculpture of Rita and proclaims his love her her (no matter what happens), they kiss and go back to his room. The next morning, he awakes next to Rita (with “I Got You Babe” still on the radio), and it is now February 3. Having finally broken the cycle, Phil tells Rita that he wants to stay in Punxsutawney with her.
“Groundhog Day” Analysis:
Groundhog Day (in script and film) hits some of the STC beats, but not entirely. Thank goodness. The brilliance of this script is that it’s so clever and it works because everything is integrated, and it’s following its own internal logic. Here, I’m going to hit where it hits some of the most salient STC beats.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 1 | Opening Image (page 1) | Page 1 | In script: HIBERNATING GROUNDHOGS A family of groundhogs is nestled together in their burrow sleeping off the end of a long winter. In movie: Clouds, then a hand above a blue screen |
| 2 | Theme Stated (by page 5) | Page 3 | PHIL: Jesus, Gil, give me a break, will you! I covered the goddamn groundhog last year and the year before that. |
Theme Stated: The closest thing we get to a stated theme within the first five pages is that Phil predicts that he’ll keep on doing this stupid assignment. I write “closest” because it forecasts the premise (a.k.a. – the set-up that that he’ll keep on doing it over and over), but it’s not the theme. The theme is that life will suck in repetition until you confront your shadow self and undergo a personal transformation. So sure, the premise is stated here, but the theme is not.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 3 | Set-Up (pages 1-10) | Pages 1 – 11 | Six Things that Need Fixing: 1. Phil doesn’t like his job, 2. Phil doesn’t like the Groundhog Day assignment, 3. Phil is self-absorbed/has a bad reputation, 4. Phil had a relationship falling out with Stephanie, one of the correspondents, 5. Phil isn’t crazy about Rita, 6. They stay at a shitty motel, 7. There’s going to be a blizzard, 8. Phil runs into Ned Ryerson (whom he can’t stand) |
Set-Up: Given that Phil is particularly ornery, I found way more than just six things that were wrong with him. Let’s start with that, in the script, Phil has a falling out with Stephanie, who puts a curse on him. This didn’t happen in the movie (in a way, I personally wish it did because it would make more sense, movie-wise, regarding how/why the repetition occurs. I digress though). As a self-absorbed narcissist, Phil Connors finds conflict everywhere he goes (which is great for any writer).
What’s interesting about Ned Ryerson is that Ned could’ve had any occupation (i.e., doctor, lawyer, government official). That the choice is life insurance hits on the motif of mortality.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 4 | Catalyst (page 12) | Page 19 | Phil the Groundhog saw his shadow; six more weeks of winter. |
Catalyst: Phil (the groundhog) seeing his shadow is the catalyst on page 19 because not only will there be six more weeks of winter (or in Phil the weatherman’s world, an endless time loop of reliving the same day over and over), but it also sets up the theme. If Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, it means that Weatherman Phil is going to be confronting his Jungian shadow self.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 5 | Debate (pages 12-25) | Pages 19 – 25 | Phil and Rita talk about how bad the reporting was; there’s a roadblock on the highway (he can’t get out); Stephanie mutters an incantation in her apartment that curses Phil |
Debate: Not much of a debate here. Phil doesn’t know yet what he has to do yet; getting snowed in merely raises the stakes for him, helping to create the conditions to turn his world upside down.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 6 | Break Into Two (page 25) | Page 25 | Having unwittingly been cursed by Stephanie, Phil wakes up again on February 2. |
Break Into Two: When Phil wakes up again the second time to hear Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe,” that’s the beginning of Act Two because he’s completely locked into this timeloop. There’s no going back.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 7 | B-Story (page 30) | N/A |
B-Story: If we consider the B-Plot to be the romantic subplot involving Rita, then it didn’t start in Act Two. It actually began way back in Act One when they first meet each other and then begin to develop a working relationship.
But here’s the thing: the A-plot and the B-plot are so closely intertwined in Groundhog Day; how Phil changes his demeanor when courting Rita seems to directly influence if/how he breaks the timeloop; telling Rita about the timeloop also influences his relationship with her.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 8 | Fun and Games (pages 30-55) | Pages 25 – 61 | Phil repeats the same day over and over, tries to understand why it happens, does various self-destructive things (with no consequence). |
Fun and Games: This tracks. We came to Groundhog Day to see a guy repeat the same damned day over and over again to comedic effect. And we do! (What’s funny in the movie is in the diner scene, when the patrons overhear that his name is Phil, they joke, “Look out for your shadow there, pal!” What’s brilliant about this joke is that it’s really an Easter Egg for people who are up on their Carl Jung).
Phil has a phase of incredulity wherein he asks a doctor, a psychiatrist, Rita, and the local yokels about what is going on. Of course, things get really interesting once Phil gets the idea from the local yokels that, if there is no tomorrow, then there are no consequences to his actions. That’s when things take a turn and he starts acting out, playing his life like a video game. There’s an action sequence when he tries to evade an oncoming train (note: that’s not in the script), punching out Ned Ryerson, letting someone else accidentally step in the puddle, smoking, and eating whatever he wants with RIta in the diner. He then courts Nancy Taylor based on knowledge that he gains about her, rob security guards, and generally acts like an ass.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 9 | Midpoint (page 55) | Pages 70 | Phil courts Rita, telling her “Rita, I love you!” |
Midpoint: In the script, this really feels where Phil is opening his heart and laying his cards out on the table. It feels like he’s dropping the act, all of the ways he’s manipulating the situation to his own gain, and now he’s being real.
In the movie, there is a definite shift from when Phil stops playing around with his reality (and Nancy) to being using what he knows about Rita to benefit him. The midpoint, timing-wise, is when Rita turns on him about slaps him (repeatedly). When the shot of the alarm clock turns to 6:00 a.m., it feels like the beginning of the realization that Phil needs to cut the schtick and begin to confront himself.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 10 | Bad Guys Close In (pages 55-75) | Pages 70 – 82 | He does a particularly bad broadcast. He attempts to kill the groundhog (a metaphor for killing himself). He kidnaps the groundhog and starts a high speed chase. |
Bad Guys Close In: There aren’t any bad external guys; there’s just Phil. In both the film and the script, after he gets rejected from Rita, he enters a particularly violent and reckless phase. In the script, he attempts to repeatedly kill the groundhog. In the movie, he throws down the alarm clock and even notes, “I’ve come to the end of me, Rita.” In both the script and movie, he kidnaps the groundhog, and there’s a chase.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 11 | All is Lost (75) | Page 82 | Phil kidnaps Phil and goes on a high-speed chase. Whiff of Death: Phil tries to kill Phil (the groundhog), and a chase ensues, which culminates in a “BIG EXPLOSION. BIG FIREBALL. FLAMING WRECKAGE.” |
All is Lost: Phil has really done it by attempting to kill Phil (the Groundhog) and ends up killing himself and Phil.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 12 | Dark Night of the Soul (pages 75-85) | Pages 82 – 84 | Phil attempts suicide with a toaster oven; he robs a bank; he ends up in the morgue |
Dark Night of the Soul: Death doesn’t let up here; in the film, Phil attempts to kill himself by electrocuting himself with a toaster in the bath, getting hit by a truck, and throwing himself off of a clock tower. In the script, Phil attempts suicide with the toaster oven and even robs a bank. Afterwards, in both script and the movie, he tells Rita that he believes he is a god, and she is incredulous. He bolsters his position by telling her the backstories of every person in the town.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 13 | Break Into Three (page 85) | Page 84 | At the diner, Phil tells Rita that he thinks he is a god. |
Break Into Three: This marks a shift from the Dark Night of the Soul because he’s beginning to climb back out of the pit. He hasn’t found the solution yet, but by beginning the process of opening himself up to tell Rita about what’s going on (in a non-manipulative way) and by seeing her, he’s starting to fix the situation. This is where his honesty begins.
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 14 | Finale (pages 85-110) | Pages 84 – 118 | At the diner, Phil explains all of the backstories of the townspeople to Rita. He tells her everything he knows about her. She warms to him. He shows her around the town; she’s incredulous. He brings her back to the room and confesses his heart to her. Sadly, she doesn’t wake up next to him. In the next cycles, Phil becomes positive, learns how to play the piano, attempts to save a homeless man, gives a dynamite newscast, plays jazz at a concert that wows the townspeople, and makes an ice sculpture of Rita. He eventually wakes up next to her. The spell has been broken. |
Finale: Here’s why this Act Three works so well: it’s all about Phil’s redemption. Sure, the filmmakers could’ve just had Phil bear his heart to Rita and then he breaks his curse and the film ends.
But that would be too easy.
The thing about good screenwriting is that we want to have the character get what he wants. But we also want him to go on a journey in which he grows and overcomes his challenges. Like life, we don’t really want it all to be easy because where’s the growth and fulfillment in that?
The homeless man subplot shows that Phil is doing his best to redeem himself from past misdeeds, but that the homeless man dies shows that he can’t win all battles. That’s just life. Instead, he turns his energies towards helping and attempting to save other people. (And, by doing that, he’s saving himself).
That’s why when, after he learns how to play piano, and wows everyone (including Rita) at the concert, the ending with her waking up next to him is totally earned.