Groundhog DayMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Groundhog Day."

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Avg. Critic Score: 72 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
11 OK for kids 11+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    The Onion A.V. Club | Scott Tobias

    A hilarious and unexpectedly profound comedy. Read full review

  • 90
    Washington Post | Hal Hinson

    For once, the audience isn't forced to surrender its intelligence (or its healthy cynicism) to embrace the film's sunny resolution. Read full review

  • 80
    Time | Richard Corliss

    [Murray] has the natural actor's charm of making manners matter. He carries Groundhog Day with his uniquely frittery nonchalance and makes the movie a comic time warp anyone should be happy to get stuck in. [15 Feb 1993, p.63] Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    That glimmer of recognition is what makes Groundhog Day a particularly witty and resonant comedy, even when its jokes are more apt to prompt gentle giggles than rolling in the aisles. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A demonstration of the way time can sometimes give us a break. Read full review

  • 70
    TV Guide |

    Seeing it once is fine, but seeing it every day for the rest of your life is not recommended. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    The funniest moments in Groundhog Day come when Phil takes sneaky advantage of his predicament-by, say, pumping a sexy woman in the local coffee shop for facts about her past and then, ''the next day,'' using the information to lure her into bed. What the movie lacks is the ingenious, lapidary comic structure that could have made these moments fuse into something tricky and wild. Read full review

  • 67
    Austin Chronicle |

    There were a lot of ways for this film to go stupid; it succumbs to none of them. Read full review

  • 60
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    With its zany daily episodes, "Groundhog" gets stuck in a non-progressive repetition. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety |

    The film is inconsistent in tone and pace; fortunately the pay-off works, bringing some much needed warmth to the area. Read full review

View more reviews for Groundhog Day on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 11+ A witty, sarcastic take on redemption.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this lighthearted comedy also deals with depression, and Phil undertakes a series of suicide attempts. Phil also womanizes. Phil learns to be a better person by the end of the movie.
  • Families can talk about other movies that play with time, such as It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol. What is appealing about this idea?
The good stuff
  • message true4 Positive messages: Phil has a big lesson to learn about what it will takes to make it to February 3 -- and get the girl. Through lots of trial and error -- including putting others' lives in danger and trying to end his own -- he figures out that being a good person, caring for and helping others, is the key to breaking the spell.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Phil attempts suicide in a number of ways -- electrocution, jumping off buildings, and diving off a cliff in a truck. He keeps coming back to the same day, though. Sad death of a homeless man that Phil tries to revive more than once and takes to the hospital.
  • sex false3 Sex: Bill Murray's character seduces women, with plenty of pick-up lines and kissing on the couch and (clothed) in bed shown. A joke about how someone sounds when she gets "really excited."
  • language false1 Language: Very mild.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Phil smokes in a restaurant while gorging on donuts.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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