What would you do if caught in a “Groundhog Day” time loop?
On February 2, 2026, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so it’s six more weeks of winter – so sorry, all you folks caught in the freezing storms of the eastern U.S. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s seemingly just rain and more rain. After the record-breaking, disastrous floods here in November and December, our rain and unseasonably warm weather continue, which means our essential mountain snowpacks are not accumulating to stave off another drought summer. And yet the Powers that Be continue to ignore climate change and blunder ahead with “Drill, baby drill.”
On a lighter note, on Monday Thor wanted to celebrate the day by watching the Bill Murray “Groundhog Day” movie — again! In the 1993 film, Murray plays TV weatherman Phil Connor, an arrogant, self-centered jerk who mocks the “hick town” of Punxsutawney where he is sent to film a feature on Groundhog Day. He insults almost everyone he encounters, including his sweet producer Rita, played by Andie McDowell. After recording a blasé report on the appearance of the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil (who saw his shadow and predicted another six weeks of winter), the human Phil can hardly wait to escape back to the city. After a blizzard he failed to predict strands him and the crew in town, he wakes up to the same music on the radio from the day before, and is doomed to keep repeating the same day over and over.
I do enjoy the comedic encounters that repeat, as Phil grows more and more desperate to escape the time loop, and he starts to take advantage of his knowledge of events to rob an armored car, one-up an obnoxious insurance salesman, lead a wild car chase along railroad tracks with new drunken pals and police in pursuit – all without consequences, as he wakes up the next day untouched. He finally becomes suicidal, but even his attempts to kill himself come to nothing. The best scene, which always makes me laugh, is when he decides to break the cycle by kidnapping Phil the groundhog and jumping into a stolen pickup. We see a closeup of the two manic Phils behind the wheel of the pickup, with the groundhog doing the steering as Phil tells him, “Don’t drive angry,” before they plunge over a cliff and burst into flames. And then wake up to the same repeating morning.
Meanwhile, Phil has fallen in love with sweet Rita, and plots to seduce her with various stratagems based on his increasing knowledge of what she values. She sees through him, though, and he finally decides to make himself a better man who might deserve her. He uses his foreknowledge of events to save some of the town’s citizens, and finally earns Rita’s affection.
Bill Murray is perfect in the mocking role of Phil, both the verbal and physical comedy, and by the end is surprisingly touching when he whispers to a sleeping Rita that he yearns to be worthy of her love. Once he has grown into himself, so to speak, the cycle is broken. My hesitation to see the movie one more time – Thor is much fonder of it than I am – is the performance of Andie McDowell as Rita. She is bland, boring, and awkwardly unconvincing as a TV producer, and I find myself quickly tired of her. Too much déjà déjà vu!
At one point in the movie, Phil bemoans the awful day he must repeat, and muses about a perfect day he had enjoyed on a topic vacation, which would have been his pick for a time loop. Thor and I discussed our pick for our own “groundhog day” and decided it would be a favorite day at the remote Caribbean paradise getaway where we enjoyed our honeymoon and returned for several years. The day we picked: Waking to sunrise over the reef and lagoon, snorkeling just off the beach among vibrant fish and coral, lounging beneath the palm trees, a lovely siesta and cuddles, then swimming over the rippling sea grasses in the late-afternoon shimmering sunlight. Then watching the sunset on the rooftop terrace over our room as frigate birds soared, and then owner Murph and Cindy’s famous coconut-shrimp dinner. Let’s do it again!
What would be your favorite day to repeat?
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s Caribbean suspense novel from Book View Café is ISLANDS, which draws on her experiences working as a scuba divemaster on various islands, and also her research into petroglyphs. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
