MovieChat Forums > Groundhog Day (1993) Discussion > The premise makes no sense

The premise makes no sense


I started thinking about how OTHER people see all this. I mean, let's say Phil goes on a rampage and murders 100 people. Then he wakes up and the day has reset, so no one is dead now.

However, how does the 'killed individual' experience it? I mean, someone DIED, and now they're ALIVE again? How does that kind of reset work, exactly?

The day can't just reset for HIM, he needs everyone to be reset as well - is it global, does the whole world reset? I mean, where does all this 'resetting energy' come from, because it's a MASSIVE amount that's required for that.

Let's say Phil drives with the drunk guys off the cliff and they all die. Phil resets, but how does the 'died drunkard' experience it? Does he get reset, too? I mean, obviously, he HAS to, because otherwise, he would be missing from Phil's day, right? But he died, does he have that memory or not?

Let's say the other people do not get 'reset', they just experience it as a normal day and wake up the next morning. WHICH one of the zillions of different 'Phil's Groundhog Day Specials' did they experience yesterday? I mean, did they experience the one where they died, and now are resurrected? Did they experience the first day where Phil was all grumpy and walked into the wet pothole? What is those guys' memory of the groundhog day?

I mean, the groundhog day happened - not only for Phil, but others, too, for zillion times - if it was just Phil, there couldn't be all these different events, happenings, reactions and so on. Ned had multiple different talks with Phil, so how does Ned remember the groundhog day, WHICH ONE of those scenarios does he remember, or does he remember all of them?

How is this 'day reset for Phil' possible without resetting EVERYONE ELSE's day as well? Everyone that Phil interacts with, has as many different groundhog days as Phil, because they did, from Phil's perspective, experience the day differently each time with Phil. How does that work, and again, WHICH one of those would they remember the next day? How does Phil know there IS a tomorrow for everyone else, and why is everyone else oblivious to the day reset, when it obviously happened to them, too?

This kind of concept always seems so easy and simple until you start thinking about the details like these. If Phil is the only one experiencing the same day over and over (in which case, he shouldn't have the freedom to CHANGE the day, because it already happened a certain way, so it should always happen the same way, otherwise, it's either not the same day, or everyone else is reset, too).

I mean, if it's just for HIM, then how can EVERYONE ELSE change what they did that day ad nauseum? Everyone Phil interacts with, has multiple different dialogues and activities that would, due to butterfly effect, create a completely different day for them in the end, lead them to have different ideas than they originally did, and so on.

Also, if the whole world keeps resetting, it would require a ridiculous amount of energy, and since this is not time travel, how would that even work, where would that massive amount of energy come from, and wouldn't it be more beneficial to use it for something OTHER than making some guy successfully woo some hag? I mean, there are wars, drone murders, people die of starvation, kids die in factories trying to make fireworks for wealthy countries and on the streets because they sniffed too much glue.

This movie's premise is that the Universe doesn't care about any of THAT as much as whether Phil gets to pork a specific female.

As I mentioned, this premise makes no sense, no matter how you look at it.

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The anomaly in this film is not just that he keeps reliving the same day but that he retains memory of the previous relived Groundhog days, while the others do not retain the memory, but are alive again. It could be that you're seeing it as a 'reset' rather than simply going back in time, allowing for Phil to retain memory. Clearly there is providence at work here. Your statement regarding energy doesn't really have a place with regards to an omnipotent being (God).

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He is hopping the multiverse each and every time. His decisions each time are setting the path for that particular multiverse. He is able to do so because he has the ability to harness whatever energy in the universe required to do so. Why? Because I said so.

I just poked holes in everything you just said. How does that feel? 🤣

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If you want this movie to make sense you totally missed the point.

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Plot hole.

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Why are you discarding time travel or parallel universes or multiverse?

It's quite possible when he sleeps or dies, he is time traveling back in the timeline and overwriting his earlier self with the new copy which is why he retains his memories.

There is only 1 timeline which is getting overwritten each time by him jumping to 24h earlier right at that instant.

So the others immediately, in the timeline that is erased, cease to exist.

They don't have any experience because they're gone in an instant as soon he time traveled back.

If parallel universe hops then there are consequences he is facing in those other universes but he disappears from those universes and overtakes himself in the new parallel universe at 24h in past. They have a mystery in those universes or those universes perhaps just disappear as well

Re. The energy requirements perhaps that's what caused the loop to end. The energy powering his unique time travel ran out and it stopped.

This is a great movie and fascinating concept and it is in my top 10 all time movies. It's a classic.

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It's very I testing to look at

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Every piece of work that isn't a documentary must be upsetting to you.

It's pathetic.

I pity you.

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Let me guess; you're a 30-something man-child sitting in their parents' basement who thinks that his insights into the universe are over everyone else's head?

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Guaranteed he's also on the spectrum. He doesn't understand sarcasm or irony whatsoever, and I strongly suspect humor is also totally beyond him as well. The only sitcoms he probably watches are those with laugh tracks so he knows when to laugh.

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