In Groundhog Day, Phil begins one of his first few days differently by not stopping to talk with anyone and instead heading out right away to the Groundhog Day celebration. That should mean that he's at least a minute "ahead of schedule". Yet his annoying friend Ned is walking in the exact same spot as the previous days when he spots Phil! What is the in-universe explanation?
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3Phil walked slower that time. – KutuluMike Nov 16 '16 at 17:16
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You might want to note that on the following morning, the traffic is ahead of where it was on the first day by almost twenty seconds. No explanation is given. – Valorum Nov 16 '16 at 17:17
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1He took longer in the bathroom before heading out. – Hellion Nov 16 '16 at 18:20
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@KutuluMike Actually if anything he seems to have been in a bigger rush than in the previous days – Jackman Nov 16 '16 at 18:21
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@Hellion Then why did he meet the guy on the stairs at the same time? – Jackman Nov 16 '16 at 18:21
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He used the downstairs bathroom? – Hellion Nov 16 '16 at 18:23
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@Hellion Then why did he meet the lady downstairs at the same time? And we see him leaving right after. – Jackman Nov 16 '16 at 18:26
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1Because redoing the same shot 15 different ways is already tough enough on everyone brains without adding 20 second variations to it. – Radhil Nov 16 '16 at 18:28
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@Radhil Well yeah that's the obvious out-of-universe reason. I'm asking for in-universe. – Jackman Nov 16 '16 at 18:32
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2Maybe the traffic lights were against him. – Hellion Nov 16 '16 at 18:33
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8Because time-loops do whatever they please. – Ellesedil Nov 16 '16 at 19:03
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4If the universe can conspire to form a time loop for Phil's benefit, then it can conspire to make everyone else's schedule adjust to Phil's schedule. – Molag Bal Nov 16 '16 at 20:03
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4Yeah, the time loop is clearly created and executed by some sort of conscious deity or all-powerful being who can alter time and events in order to teach Phil to be a decent human being. Ned is a part of that, and a crucial part of the loop. – tobiasvl Nov 16 '16 at 20:24
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What is a plot hole? – phantom42 Nov 17 '16 at 03:44
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Easy. Ned saw Phil from farther away than he was on the first day and ran faster to meet up with Phil, thus, arriving at the same time. – Major Stackings Nov 18 '16 at 08:25
2 Answers
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The very short answer to this question is "yes", this is quite clearly a (very minor) production error. They do occasionally creep into even highly-funded films like this, especially when the goal is to demonstrate to the audience that everything is the same as it was before. If you get hung up on trying to find a hidden meaning in every magically repairing window or visible boom mike, you'll go crackers.
Although we could come up with some unfounded speculation about how gypsy curses work or that the entire town is set up to teach Phil a lesson, the best thing to do here is to focus on "Bellisario's Maxim"; that the story is simply being told by a small production team that (due to the limitations of the medium) has to work quickly, with limited budget and tight deadlines all while trying to turn out the best product it can.
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As a few commenters have pointed out, it may be that just like time was manipulated to help Phil grow as a person, Ned's schedule was also adjusted so that Phil could have the opportunity to have a positive interaction with him.
A more practical possibility was suggested by @Hellion: maybe traffic lights kept Phil from crossing any earlier despite arriving at the intersection a minute earlier, so he got to Ned the same time in any case.
Jackman
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OK, I hope no-one ever takes "Groundhog Day" to the same place "Quantum Leap" went when it finally jumped the shark. – Spencer Aug 26 '18 at 18:06