10 Movies You Have To Watch TWICE To Understand

On a surface level, of course, Groundhog Day is a perfect candidate for a movie to watch and re-watch in pursuit of more meaning. After all, that’s its whole schtick: Bill Murray’s weatherman Phil Connors is forced to relive the same day over and over, having become trapped in a loop in time while covering an otherwise uninteresting job: a small town’s Groundhog Day celebration.

It’s a silly and light-hearted comedy on one level, and a much beloved and iconic one at that. The aspect that makes it so interesting, though, is the way that the experience changes Connors. Initially self-centered and bitter, he becomes desperate to work on himself as the loop goes by, learning a new language, to play the piano and falling in love with co-worker Rita (like everybody else, she isn’t trapped in the loop).

Groundhog Day, then, covers a lot of interesting topics beneath its silly Bill Murray façade. What caused the time loop? By the same token, what freed Connors from it? Being trapped in a negative cycle of feelings and releasing himself from it, perhaps? There’s a lot to unpack here, and with each new viewing, new theories and possibilities emerge.