Contents
Comedy Gordon Ramis 1993 became a real cultural phenomenon, the most successfully beating the concept of a time loop.
It is included in the National Film Registry of America, and the name “Groundhog Day” has become a catchphrase in many countries: this is how people describe the routine and monotonous periods of life.
The great success (including commercial: at a cost of 14.6 million, the film collected 79 million dollars) of the picture gave rise to a whole scattering of other works trying to develop a similar idea.
So far, no one has managed to make a second such masterpiece, but we still made a list of 10 films similar to Groundhog Day.
10 50 first kisses | 2004
The protagonist Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) loves the company of beautiful girls, but is not looking for a serious relationship.
Everything changes when he meets Lucy (Drew Barrymore). Due to an injury sustained during the accident, she suffers from an unusual form of amnesia: she remembers everything that happened before the accident, but wakes up every morning without remembering what happened yesterday. In a dream, her brain is “reset”, so Henry has to explain to her every day who he is and literally get to know each other again.
Literally, the name translates as “50 first dates” and it fits more. In addition to the mentioned Sandler and Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Dan Aykroyd and Amy Hill also starred here.
The only thing that raises questions is what the creators spent $ 70 million of the budget on, which is an astronomical amount for a romantic comedy. Fortunately for them, the viewer appreciated the film and brought them almost 200 million dollars into the piggy bank.
9. Source code | 2011
The techno-thriller directed by Duncan Jones shows not a repetition of one day, but only 8 minutes.
The protagonist, using a special device, gets into the body of a passenger of an already exploded train 8 minutes before the disaster. His goal is to find out who planted the bomb and prevent another terrorist attack.
Over and over again, he gets into the same car, tries to learn something in 8 minutes and dies, but even in this situation he finds time to fall in love.
Filmed for just $32 million, Source Code is great in every way: starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, and Michelle Monaghan, the plot is captivating until the last seconds, and the ending is completely “blows the roof off.”
8. Edge of the Future | 2014
In this fantasy action movie, Tom Cruise, accompanied by Emily Blunt, saves the world from alien invaders who have the ability to control time.
After blowing up one of them at the cost of his own life, Cruise’s hero suddenly comes to life. The blood of the alien, which fell on him during the explosion, gives him unique opportunities that he will fully use to save humanity.
Except for the holes in the logic, which not everyone will notice at the first viewing, the film turned out to be quite good.
7. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time | 2006
Anime based on the popular manga does not shine with surprises in terms of plot, but thanks to Asian animation, the film is perceived with a bang.
The girl Makoto lived a difficult day full of failures, and in the end she managed to get hit by a train. In seconds before her death, she suddenly realized that she could control time and return to the past.
Wanting to correct mistakes and improve her life, the schoolgirl actively intervened in the course of events until she realized that her decisions affect the fate of other people, and you can only move a limited number of times.
Now she has to try hard to return everything as it was, and also get to know the boy from the future and, of course, fall in love.
6. Premonition | 2007
In this drama with elements of a thriller, the main character does not know how to manage time, but simply one day she discovers that she lives her days out of chronological order.
On Thursday, her husband dies, who was about to leave her and the children, and the next morning she woke up .. on Monday, which has already passed (hereinafter, the days will also go out of order).
Her husband is still alive and she needs to figure out a way to save him, but that’s not the only problem: she’s no longer sure she wants to.
5. If only | 2003
The melodrama tells about a man who got a unique chance to live a bad day all over again and do everything differently.
Always busy at work, he doesn’t make time for the girl he really loves. Suddenly, she dies, having quarreled with him the day before, and for him this becomes a severe shock.
Falling asleep in an embrace with her diary, in the morning he finds her alive. Ahead again is the same day when she dies, but now he will spend it next to her and do everything to make her happy.
4. Family man | 2000
The protagonist, played by Nicolas Cage in his best years, is a successful and wealthy businessman who seems to have everything.
He buys suits for two thousand dollars, drives a Ferrari and is pleased with himself, regretting only that he once exchanged love for a career.
By chance (and New Year’s magic), he suddenly wakes up in bed with the same girl from his youth. He is no longer a rich man, but an ordinary tire seller, moreover, with two children (whom he sees for the first time) and a dog.
What to do and whether it is worth looking for a way to a past life – he will have to answer these questions.
A sweet and kind tape with a festive mood is very similar to Groundhog Day in its atmosphere, although the plot of the films is completely different.
3. Boyfriend from the future | 2013
This satirical drama can be safely recommended to all lovers of light, but not stupid cinema.
Russian localizers, as is often the case with them, decided to be creative and for some reason called the About Time film “Boyfriend from the Future”. Our version evokes associations with some kind of unpretentious comedy for teenagers, but in reality everything is much deeper and more interesting.
Tim Lake (played by Domhnall Gleason) suddenly found out that he could travel through time. It turns out that all the men in his family have this ability, but they tried to keep it a secret.
Although Tim is not able to influence the history of mankind, he is now simply obliged to change his life.
2. Back to the future | 1985
The first part of the fantastic trilogy by Robert Zemeckis became in 1985 a phenomenon that determined the vector of development of the entire genre for many years.
The most successful film of the year, earning more than 380 million on a budget of 19 million and collecting a whole bunch of awards: Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA – this is just the tip of the iceberg of film awards. Many directors (quite talented) tried to repeat the success of the picture, but no one succeeded.
Interesting fact: in recent years, it has become fashionable in Hollywood to restart old franchises, and Back to the Future is a tidbit for any studio. Seeing that remakes or sequels often don’t do any good, Robert Zemeckis publicly promised fans of the original that he would do everything possible to keep the trilogy intact. Seeing a familiar story filmed with new technology is certainly a tempting prospect, but there are too many concerns about quality.
1. Happy death day | 2017
The comedy horror movie of 2017 was filmed according to all the canons of the genres to which it is focused. Humor (sometimes with a touch of black), the ability to keep the viewer in suspense, interesting characters – it’s all there.
That is why the story of a girl who repeatedly lives through a disgusting day ending with her death has become so successful (125 million box office on a budget of 4.8 million).
More recently, the second part was released under the laconic title “Happy New Day of Death”, which has a similar plot.