Groundhog Day/YMMV

• Artistic License Geography: In real life, the sun doesn't come up until around 7:00 A.M. in Western Pennsylvania during February. In the film, it's already broad daylight by 6:00 A.M.
• Non Sequitur Scene: At one point, Phil goes up at a late showing of Heidi II dressed as the titular character from Bronco Billy along with a woman dressed as Ms. Lily. Who she is, how she knows Phil, and why they're showing up for a movie wearing costumes from a different movie are never explained.
  • It fits within the mood of just trying whatever in the face of eternal boredom.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Phil committing suicide... jarring. Repeatedly committing suicide? Depressing. Him casually recounting this and then declaring himself a god to Rita the next day? Strangely hilarious.
• Double Standard: arguably present in the unspoken backstory of the film, which explains that Phil was cursed by a woman he dated and parted with on bad terms, so she deliberately trapped him in a day he'd complained bitterly about before. Apparently being a jerk in a relationship is a bigger crime than trying to condemn someone to their own personal Hell. (According to the commentary, this backstory was not considered canon to the finished film.)
• Ear Worm: Then put your little hand in mine... (Even if you don't find the song catchy, it will get you through sheer repetition.)
  • "Strike up the music, the band has begun / The Pennsylvania Polka!"
• Epileptic Trees - One of the more outlandish theories is that Phil was trapped in Groundhog Day for several thousand years. (Although in an earlier, discarded draft of the script, he was.) Harold Ramis estimates that it was closer to about 30–40 years.
  • It's mentioned someplace (perhaps in the older draft of the script?) that he read the entire Punxsutawney library, every book in it, by reading them one page a day. Each book would take months, if not years, to read; and there would be thousands of them in the library.
  • As a point of fact, Word of God has it that the timeframe is intentionally ambiguous, but likely on the order of 10 years. (It also confirms that the original plan was for thousands - although they only used a bookshelf at the bed & breakfast, not a library - and the studio wanted two weeks.)
  • This isn't that far out, actually - considering that he learns, from scratch, how to make ice sculptures with a chainsaw, speak fluent French (if not more tongues) and play the piano.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory - Harold Ramis has pointed out that people tell him this film is an obvious allegory for (insert religion of choice here) where Phil breaks the loop after following said religion's key principles.
• Fridge Brilliance - It's essentially a solid hour and a half of character development. I mean you could say that Phil did a 180 just to ensure a Hollywood happy ending, but actually getting from point A to point B through the rambling inner monologue of the protagonist in a logical way without making anyone carry the Idiot Ball is something to appreciate. Especially if the finished version is funny.
  • Also, he develops a talent for ice sculpture, a type of sculpture not known for it's permanence.
• Fridge Horror: During the course of the movie, Phil gets to know every person in Punxsutawney( down to the most trivial of details in their life), learns to play the piano (JAZZ piano), can sculpt a perfect human likeness in snow, can do ice sculptures and speaks French. Pretty cool, right? Until you realize how much time it takes to learn just ONE of those skills. Phil, quite possibly, spent YEARS inside the loop. Years... reliving the same day... over and over and over and...
• Fridge Logic - Phil seems to start each repeat completely refreshed, regardless of whether he actually went to sleep or not. This means he has true 24-hour days to accomplish any plausible skill (French, piano, ice sculpting, card tossing...), as well as the capability of several-hour practice binges for as many days in a row as it takes without worrying about exhausting himself.
• Ho Yay: Played with to HILARIOUS effect with Phil and Ned at one point.

Phil: I don't know where you're headed... but can you call in sick?

• • Based on Phil's expressions, it is evident that he was looking for a way to get rid of Ned. And it worked.
• Tear Jerker - As Phil learns the fragility (and preciousness) of life through his repeated and futile attempts to save a dying, homeless old man whom he was mean to in the first years of his stay on Groundhog Day.
  • Also, Word of God states that execs originally wanted this subplot dropped because it was too much of a downer for a comedy. The director insisted that it stay in, and rightly so; because it shows the egotistical Phil that he is not in fact "a god", and it was the pivotal step to him learning how to genuinely and unselfishly love humanity.
    • Absolutely! Phil gets more character development in those 5–10 minutes (Or possibly 5–10 days) or so than he had in the entire rest of the movie up to that point.
• Vindicated by History - It did okay at the box office and the critics of the time liked it well enough. Within 10 years it would come to be widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made.