:dubious: Including the suicide montage? And the other days they only showed a few seconds of? It seems like it was more than that. (But I could be wrong.)
It’s a chick-flick. I mean, it’s a romantic comedy where the guy gets the girl at the end.
But why would he? All he needs from her is to learn where all the keys are, how to read music, some advanced theory maybe, but that’s it. To get to the level of proficiency he actually shows in the film, he would be years past needing a teacher. He would just need a piano or keyboard he could practice on for a couple hours a day.
As a piano player, my least favorite part in the whole movie (which is one of my favorite movies, for sure), is the part where she gushes “he’s my student!”
\BARF SMILEY
Is that the definition of a chick flick? 'Cause, you know, I thought that was a romantic comedy. 
I kind of think of chick flicks as Charlie’s Angels, or sappy, stupid stuff like that. How about Clueless, or The Nanny Diaries, or - what are other movies like that ? Can’t think of any, but Groundhog Day just seemed to be a cut above those.
The thing that always made me sorry for Phil, after a couple of hundred days, he’d have no way to even estimate how long it had been going on. Nothing to differentiate this repeated day from all the others. He can’t even notch a stick or keep a diary or anything that will last beyond him going to sleep. The only thing that persists from day to day is his memory and the situation. I can see how he’d go completely insane, but it’s hard to imagine how he ever made it back to sanity.
“Be sure to wear your booties, because it’s cold outside”. :eek:
True classic…
My estimate is around 6-7 years. I feel that he could do those things and learn new skills faster because he really didn’t have anything to do all day with his time…his job was only in the morning on that day, and he could blow it off if he wanted to, without repercussions.
Funny, I always had the impression he never got out, that even though we saw Phil wake up free from repetative life, that there was another Phil continuing to relive and relive Groundhog Day, and that there were previous Phils that kept going, finishing the previous lives started by the previous Groundhog days.
I would guess (vaguely) years and years and years and years. Not only does he become a doctor, learn piano, learn French (at least enough to impress his ladyfriend), learn all there is to know about the citizens of Punxatawney, but he also develops a sort of godlike total knowledge of his environment. So it would take him a long, long time to figure out his little bank heist scam, or to figure out that the kid falls out of the tree every day at 5:07 pm, etc. So you’ve got to figure that he sat there in front of the bank every day for (who knows how long), to catch that one or two seconds when he could snatch the money. And you’ve also got to figure that he’s got all sorts of “projects” going on at once.
Let’s put it this way: if you were subject to the “Groundhog Day” effect, how long would it take you to record the exact movements of a squirrel running around in your back yard? Probably several days, at least, to see the overall pattern…several more days to memorize every little detail of that pattern. And you probably wouldn’t even bother doing this unless you had already exhausted a million other little projects like this…the very fact that you’re watching the squirrel with such interest would suggest that you’ve run out of other things to do. And it seems like Phil has this super-detailed knowledge of everything that goes on in his little world, which suggests that he’s spent an enormous amount of time investigating little details like this…
So…my guess is, years and years and years and years…
I don’t have an official definition of “chick flick,” but I think the minimal requirement is that they’re movies from a woman’s point of view, or maybe, present women’s fantasies of how men should be (man = Prince Charming, etc.). Groundhog Day would certainly not qualify, because it’s entirely from a man’s point of view, and because this is no Prince Charming, but a man acting very, very badly (he basically spends an eternity trying to manipulate Andy McDowell into sleeping with him!).
I would agree with this!
Perhaps I highlighted one word too many:
Romantic
Just because it was done better than the usual genre of romantic comedies doesn’t make it any less a “chick flick.” I’m kind of surprised that you find things that are meant to appeal mostly (if not exclusively) to women to be, by your own definition, “stupid” or “sappy.”
Perhaps you could argue from perspective that this movie is purely from Phil’s p.o.v., and it’s the sense of perspective that doesn’t make it purely “chicky.” But still, if this movie were told from Andie Mcwhatever’s (or whatever actress you prefer) pov, it would be 1/2 as liked and 10 times more razzed.
I see that others have made the above point. That’s what you get when you respond post-by-post.
Well I have *never * liked romantic comedies, and if they’re supposed to be chick flicks, it’s no wonder I don’t like the genre.
I like action - Arnold S. type action, or comedy, often British. I get disgusted & annoyed because so many action directors have to tack on unnecesary romances. Ptooey!
As for Groundhog Day, it didn’t seem to me that the romance was the point of the story. It was not “Can she fall in love with him?” but more along the lines of “Can he love someone else more than he does himself?” Romance didn’t feel like the objective to me. Of course, YMMV.
And most things meant to appeal to women *are * stupid or sappy. I don’t want to see romance, as I said, I want to see things exploding. The bigger the better. 
I always wondered if he ever tried to stay awake all night, just to see what the transition was like.
My ex-wife hated it (could be because I watched it almost 24/7 for about six months)
I believe she asked him that. He said something like eventually he would fall asleep and then wake up right back at the beginning. They just didn’t show it though. I believe it’s right at the point where she asks him why he didn’t diesappear.
If he just had to have McDowell sleep with him, wouldn’t it have been quicker just to use a few of his repeated days hunting down a local supply of Rohypnol, or something? I assumed that love had to be involved, however cynically constructed.
My wife isn’t a big fan for much the same reason. It’s repeatedly on cable and if we’re just flipping around channels I’ll usually stop on it and watch it. Although she does crack up whenever I say, “Ned! Ned Ryerson!”
On a related note, I always found it interesting that Groundhog Day is played day after day on cable. It seems appropriate.
The optimistic interpretation is that the repeated day would not end until he genuinely changed enough that she would legitimately fall in love with him.
My wife likes the movie, too - we watched it together recently. It’s not just a guy flick.
In Googling the movie, I see that it has fans among both Orthodox Jews and Buddhists, who believe that it illustrates aspects of their faiths (I think Harold Ramis said something about that in the DVD commentary track). There is also a group of fans who believe that Ned Ryerson (the annoying insurance salesman) was *also * stuck in Groundhog Day, repeating the day over and over again. Not sure I believe it, but it’s an interesting theory.