Fill your Groundhog Day with these movies you can watch over and over and over.
Overview
I love day repeat movies! It’s actually one of my favorite genres. One of the things that’s so great about them is that they are always coming up with unique ways to handle the same core idea. In honor of Groundhog Day, I decided to share my five favorite day repeat movies, plus a show.
**Mostly spoiler free, any spoilers will be indicated beforehand**
Movies:
Edge of Tomorrow (aka Live. Die. Repeat.) (2014)
Summary
Major Cage (Tom Cruise), completely inexperienced in combat, is sent into the middle of a chaotic alien battle where he inadvertently gains the power to repeat the day every time he dies. Which is a lot. He teams up with Rita (Emily Blunt), who previously gained the power herself but has since lost it, to stop the aliens from winning the war.
What Makes It Unique
This one is the most strongly sci-fi of the bunch, and honestly I don’t know why there aren’t more sci-fi day repeat movies (there’s plenty of them in classic sci-fi TV shows). Tomorrow is sci-fi to some degree, but much more toned down than this one. This movie really takes advantage of Cruise’s knowledge of each day’s events, gradually turning Cruise into a skilled warrior who knows exactly what to do to turn the day in his favor.
Source Code (2011)
Summary
Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) keeps getting sent back to an 8-minute span on a train in order to determine the source of a bomb and prevent future bombings. Along the way, he also searches for the truth of why he is here.
What Makes It Unique
Source Code is two-fold mystery movie, as Stevens investigates both the bombing and his own circumstances that brought him into this situation. His loop also doesn’t span an entire day, but only 8 minutes, with time between the loops that provide a bigger picture to what is happening.
**Spoilers**
In the end, we learn that each time he goes back, he spins off a new parallel universe. So there are now at least 8 other timelines where hundreds died and their loved ones grieved. Considering that in each of these timelines, Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) presumably also triggered the Source Code experiment, this probably further caused uncountable additional timelines. But one of the darkest things about this movie is never fully acknowledged–in his last loop, Stevens’ life support is terminated, and his consciousness stays within the body of Sean Fentress, who for all intents and purposes essentially is now permanently dead. Stevens is going to have to spend the rest of his life pretending to be Sean, a man he knows nothing about, while Sean’s family and friends never even realize that the real Sean is gone for good.
Palm Springs (2020)
Summary
I’m not typically a big romance fan, but two of my favorite romance movies are in this list. Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) make an adorable couple, trapped together on the day of Sarah’s sister’s wedding. It’s a fun movie that had me smiling a lot, and I love the ending.
What Makes It Unique
In most day repeat movies, we start at the beginning with the character as they become stuck in the loop for the first time. In this instance, we follow Sarah in such a situation. However, the twist is that Nyles has already been stuck in the loop for eons, so long he can barely remember anymore what life was like outside of this day. We never really get to see that perspective, or if we do, it’s because we’ve followed the looping character to that point, so to start out with a character who is already this far into the looping is fascinating.
When We First Met (2018)
Summary
Noah (Adam Devine) is hopelessly in love with Avery (Alexandra Daddario), but she’s engaged to someone else. When a magic photo booth transports him back to the day he and Avery first met, he tries several different ways to win her heart. Overall, the different directions Noah and Avery’s relationship takes are all interesting, and the end result is really neat.
What Makes It Unique
There are a few unique things about this one. First, Noah actually repeats two different days, 10/31/2014, and 11/1/2017. Every time he changes something in 2014, he returns to 2017 and experiences the long-term consequences. Second, unlike with the other day repeat movies, he actually has to intentionally go back to 2014 (after the accidental first trip back). He has control over when and how often he returns to that day, as well as when he wants to stop the loop.
**Spoilers**
One of my favorite things about this movie (aside from the cast, because they are all awesome) is that in the end, Noah realizes that just because he had a crush on Avery, doesn’t mean they are supposed to be together. Furthermore, he comes to the mature understanding that the two of them can still be close friends, even without the romance. The first time I watched this, I groaned when he implied he had been “friend-zoned” by her, but ultimately he learns that he and Avery’s friendship is just as important.
Run Lola Run (1998)
Summary
When Lola (Franka Potente) gets a call from her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Biebtreu) alerting her that his life is in danger, she must run to his rescue. Ultimately, she gets 3 chances to set things right.
What Makes It Unique
Unlike the other day repeat media, Lola only gets a total of 3 repeats, far fewer than all the rest. This, however, allows us to see just how impactful one seemingly minuscule moment can have on numerous lives. Also, although we as the viewers see the differences in the timelines, even Lola herself does not realize she is repeating the same 20 minutes, and as far as she knows, each iteration is the one and only chance she gets. Additionally, this is a very artistically shot film.
Show:
Russian Doll (2019)
Summary
Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) dies on her 36th birthday and continues to relive it over again, until she finds out that she’s not the only one inside the time loop. With only 8 episodes (so far) at 25 minutes a piece, it’s a super easy show to binge, and there’s this running gag involving stairs that is hilarious.
What Makes It Unique
Somewhat like Palm Springs, there is more than one person inside the time loop. Nadia and Alan (Charlie Barnett) discover that their fates are linked, and must work together to be free from the loop. Also, in this take on the day repeat scenario, things do gradually start changing around them the more they loop. One other thing that makes this one unique compared to all the others is that both Nadia and Alan have a history of mental illness, which factors into the way they approach this seemingly impossible situation.
Honorable Mention
Although it did not quite make the cut of my top 5 movies, the Happy Death Day series is an enjoyable watch, if not taken too seriously, and is worth the look.
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