What age is Groundhog Day appropriate for?

11 alone, 10 with a parent; 11 in France. The whole movie, watched in full: what's in it, and how to talk about it with your child.

Why is Groundhog Day not recommended under 11?

What's in it: our reading; he kills himself several times, and it is played for laughs; a man who lies to get women into bed. The detail, fact by fact, is in the zinema guide, which reads the work itself (images, sound, dialogue).

zinema · movies · what age

Groundhog Day: what age is it for? 11 alone, 10 with a parent

11 alone, 10 with a parent.

Movie · 1993 · 1 h 41 · romance, fantasy, comedy

YRS

The trailer

Alone, or with you

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not yetwith an adult, or to talk about afteralonethe sweet spot

The official US rating is PG; we never go below it, and here we go above: 11. Alone from 11; from 10, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.

The sweet spot: around 12-14, the age at which the loop becomes vertiginous rather than a gag, and the question of becoming a good person really lands. Why a sweet spot?

Official US rating: PG; zinema says 11. In France, zinema would say 11.

Watch the trailerContinue in zinemathen where to watch it, in zinema · more trailers, and where to watch films · Where to stream itWhere to watch

What it's about

A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.

Why 11

Our readingA comedy whose hero kills himself repeatedly as a running gag, wakes up unhurt each time, and spends a long stretch lying to women to get them into bed. Nothing bloody, nothing shown, but both need the age to be read as the jokes they are. Eleven years old, ten with a parent.
reading
He kills himself several times, and it is played for laughsTo escape the loop, Phil throws himself off a bell tower, drives a stolen pick-up into a quarry, electrocutes himself in the bath. We see him die, we see him on the mortuary table, and each time he wakes up intact at six. The film turns it into a run of gags, which takes the age to get the joke. An old homeless man dies of cold, and Phil fails to save him, day after day: the only truly sad passage.
A man who lies to get women into bedFor a long stretch, Phil uses the loop to manipulate the women of the town, learning by heart what they like and ending up in bed. We see the morning after, never more. The film then shows that it does not work, and that is the turning point. A few drinks, some drunk driving, two or three swear words.

What the movie brings

One of the rare films about becoming better that never preaches.
A perfect mechanism you grasp in three minutes and that holds for a hundred.
Bill Murray at his peak, and an idea that became a proverb.

Watching it together

Before

One sentence after the run of suicides: Phil cannot die, that is the film's rule, it is not a real solution.

After

at 11 and up

If you relived the same day endlessly, what would you learn first?

See the facts

Alcohol●●○ · shownreading

Death of a character●●○ · shownreading

Density of dialogue●●○ · shownmeasured

Frightening imagery●●○ · shownmeasured

Humor●●○ · shownmeasured

Insults, hurtful words●●○ · shownmeasured

Jump scares●●○ · shownmeasured

Kissing, romantic gestures●●○ · shownmeasured

Long dark scenes, night, storm●●○ · shownmeasured

Suicide, suicidal thoughts●●○ · saidreading

Tense music or sound●●○ · shownmeasured

A moment that calls for a parent●○○ · suggestedmeasured

A weapon shown or used●○○ · shownreading

Abandonment, separation, confinement●○○ · shownmeasured

Disaster, destruction, war●○○ · suggestedmeasured

Disaster, destruction, war●○○ · shownmeasured

Fighting, brawls●○○ · shownreading

Sex scene, suggested or shown●○○ · shownreading

Sexual innuendo, double meanings●○○ · shownmeasured

Smoking●○○ · shownmeasured

Swearing●○○ · shownmeasured

For the same age, on zinema

Les Caprices de l’Enfant Roi 12, 11 with a parent
The Mandalorian 14
Practical Magic 2 13
The Chosen 11, 10 with a parent

The latest guides

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A zinema reading from September 22, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made