I think pretty much the total opposite. He hated the place as a nowhere hicksville when he got there. But he learned pretty much everything there was to learn about the town and the people and he grew to love it all.
And his spirit wasn’t broken. He remade himself into a better person and learned all kinds of cool skills, though it probably took him a while to decide to do it.
Sorry, this has probably been mentioned (and I can’t believe I’M saying this) but isn’t the whole point of the film is that he changes enough to consummate a relationship with Andie, his true love?
Ah, love and fate.
But he doesn’t actually consummate it, and he learns to be okay with that.
How many groundhogs for this zombie thread?
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties 'cause it’s cooooold out there today.
Sure he does. But it’s really by changing himself enough to make it happen.
It seems while he knows he’s stuck, he forgets about Andie and only cares about himself, soon he starts to really give a shit about other people, then his fateful love can accept him because he’s no longer bad, he’s good and good for others.
To me it’s basically like the cosmos said, “Okay, news schmuck, you’re an asshole. Everyone knows this everywhere you go. But your one true love is the only way out of this, so you better freaking change. If you don’t, we’ll make you live the day you change over and over until you get it. Mwah ha ha ha haaaa!”
For as much of an ass as he is, I’m leaning towards over a thousand days! Hell, he was even insulted by sharing his name with a groundhog. 
This is the 5th reanimation of this thread. Makes a guy kinda proud. 
It is explicitly said at the end that they did not “do it”. Now, the next night…
And it’s only 3 days late.
I prefer to think of it as 362 days early.
But… he’s done everything there is to do in Punxsutawney! It ain’t no Bedford Falls, ya know!
Wow, but I bet he’s weirdly disoriented for a long time afterward. Watch what you say, Phil! No do-overs now!
I have the oddest feeling that I’ve posted in this thread before…
This is the 5th reanimation of this thread. Makes a guy kinda proud. 
Yes, that’s true. But they are talking about buying property in Punxatawney, so I think you’re right on “the next night”.
So maybe it’s “you built yourself to be good, now you’re free to spread the goodness” kinda thing??
I’m watching this tonight again. Getting drunk first.
I see what you did there.
I definitely don’t like some of his assumptions. Only 7,000 hours to learn to play piano that way? I just don’t believe that he knocked that out in only four or five years. But still, it’s an interesting exercise and I think he’s close enough to argue the point.
re the OP - if you go by Hollywood standards, where you can learn kungfu with a montage, then less than a hundred years. he wasn’t depicted as a jack of all trades, master of none. it was implied that he mastered and perfected everything by that last day. that surely takes several lifetimes to achieve.
so the cycle was finally broken by True Love’s Kiss - the most powerful thing in the world!
God how many times are you going to keep asking that? I’ve told you like 24,000 times.
This is the 5th reanimation of this thread. Makes a guy kinda proud.
As has been discussed further upthread, Phil doesn’t need to go to work or anything - he can devote all the time he wants to the pursuit of those skills. He also wasn’t exactly playing a Rachmaninov piano concerto, either - he was playing Boogie Woogie on a digital piano, you don’t need a lifetime to perfect that, if you put your mind to it and practice every day, as he could.
Same with some of the other stuff - I’m sure it wouldn’t take a lot more than a day to really get to know a person from the town (I’m sure he wasn’t trying to seduce most of them, like with Rita).