Groundhog Day

THE SCOOP
Director: Harold Ramis
Plot: A weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy/Romance
Awards: Won 1 BAFTA - original screenplay
Runtime: 101min
Rating: PG for some thematic elements.

IN RETROSPECT
Most comedies are like disposable commodities. Not this one. Groundhog Day does not stick to a particular formula; it relies on a creative plot to drive the film on. Part fantasy, part romance, this hilarious comedy is far from the usual tepid ones many viewers suffer through perennially. We continue to watch Groundhog Day because we want to find out what happens. This 'mysterious' approach by director Harold Ramis (Analyze This) works to much satisfaction.

The deja vu concept has never been so enjoyable, and with natural comedian Bill Murray in the house, it's a pleasure watching the events unfolding on screen. Admittedly, Groundhog Day feels like it's going to stumble over its own feet during some parts, but it's still a light-hearted and unique comedy that's rarely this imaginative. It's certainly a crowd pleaser, and plenty of laughs guaranteed.

SCORE: 8/10
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Last updated: 2010-03-27 08:50:52 by eternality_tan

There IS no spoon!

Last updated: 2010-03-13 07:01:43 by McDozer

Elizabeth Wurtzel once wrote that the only real choice we have in life is whether to be bitter or gracious. Granted this may not be our onlychoice (there’s always room for contrariness on this blog), but it is the only choice Bill Murray is given in Groundhog Day – a movie that does for déjà vu what Au hasard Balthazar did for donkeys (i.e. bestows grace).

It might seem strange to mention a Robert Bresson movie when discussing a Harold Ramis flick, but I don’t it with a facetious intent. It’s true that Bresson is often regarded as the alpha and the omega of beatific cinema, but with so little of the true spirit of religion in movies, it can’t hurt to co-opt Hollywood now and then. Besides, Groundhog Day is a religious movie. It says what every good religion says, that self-worth comes from selflessness. Déjà vu isn’t a trick of the mind in this movie, it’s a reminder: what are you missing?

Groundhog Day begins with Bill Murray forecasting the weather. He is a TV weatherman for a no-mark TV station. Every year his station dispatches him to Puxatawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day celebrations (wherein said marmot predicts when winter will end). Murray hates Puxatawney and groundhogs with a passion, as he hates everything. He is a misanthrope. His plan is to get out of Puxatawney the very second his professional obligations have been fulfilled. But Groundhog Day, for Murray, never ends. Instead he finds himself caught in a loop, re-living Groundhog Day from 6am ’til he falls asleep each night, the only man aware that everyone else around him is stuck on repeat.

There are many ways this premise could be realized in movie-form – as thriller, as science-fiction, as horror, as all three. Think of what David Fincher might have done with the concept – casting Edward Norton or the like as a man trapped in perpetual torment, slowly (but stylishly) driven mad by the nightmare of always knowing what happens next. Comedy wouldn’t seem the obvious choice for how to handle temporal stasis – and to create comedy from repetition without losing audience interest is a challenge that has defeated even the best directors.

But Groundhog Day succeeds. It succeeds to such a degree that it even becomes a great movie. If it were merely good it might make you laugh, but, being great, it also tells you how to live.

Thank God Ramis picked Murray for the lead role. It is impossible the movie could convey its message without him. Not that his exclusion would have changed the message, but to hear it delivered by anyone who exhibited goodwill readily would have been an insufferably sugary affair. Bill Murray brings Bill Murray to the movie. Jim Carrey once defined the Bill Murray persona as invincible because “he doesn’t care”. This is true to a point, but for the remainder you need to read Julia Phillips on cynics (“Cynics are hopeless romantics, and they get more disappointed”). For me, Murray is always busy not caring in case anyone should call him a good man and thereby make his good deeds showy instead of selfless.

Murray is the right choice for Groundhog Day because (on-screen) he’d rather die than wear his heart on his sleeve. Reciprocally, Groundhog Day works for Murray because the movie literally kills him before it makes him love somebody. Selflessness isn’t squishy in Groundhog Day, it comes about via a process of attrition. Maybe it’s the amount of work involved in Murray’s salvation that made me think of Bresson. Bob’s vision of grace was always what came after hard knocks.

BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: You'll love Bill Murray at his wise-cracking best in this romantic comedy about a self-centred TV weatherman who finds himself caught in a personal time warp. Suddenly, he's having the worst day of his life... over and over and over again! With no tomorrow to worry about and plenty of time on his hands, Phil explores some of his favourite fantasies, becomes an expert at all things trivial and pointless, but continually strikes out with the one woman that matters... his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell).

FILM REVIEW: The idea of watching a guy relive the same day over and over again as the basis of a film might seem boring on the surface but there’s a lot to like in this comedy about self-absorbed weather man Phil Conners (Bill Murray) who gets stuck reliving the Groundhog Day Festival over and over again. The term “Groundhog Day” has become something of a minor pop-culture reference (ask anyone who works in repetitive job) and the look on Bill Murray’s face sums up a lot of the frustration that any of us would have if our days were always the same and nothing ever changed. The film uses this theme as a strength, and while it uses its premise to deliver on a number of unique comedic moments, it also manages to impart some higher level themes, such as the idea that surrendering yourself to your situation (rather than trying to change or control it) is the only way you’ll find happiness. But even if you don’t look that deep in to this film, “Groundhog Day” is a funny, witty, entertaining piece of work.
Bill Murray is his usual best as Phil Connors; essentially he’s playing his trademark self-absorbed, sarcastic character he made famous in other films such as “Ghostbusters” and “Scrooged” (amongst many others). To his frustration, he is sent with new producer Rita (Andie McDowell) and camerman Larry (Chris Elliott) to cover the Groundhog Day festival. He obnoxiously gets through it but wakes up the next day in shock; it’s Groundhog Day again… and again… and again. Trapped in what he believes is hell (but is more like purgatory), he relives this crazy day over and over, trying all sorts of stunts to see what he can get away with, whether that be getting on the wrong side of the law, trying to romance Rita or even killing himself. As he says at one point to Rita, “I’m a God, not the God.” Eventually, Phil resigns himself to his situation and comes to comfortably inhabit the town holding the festival and its people, and it’s only when he gets to this point of spiritual enlightenment that he is freed from this bizarre recurring event.
The filmmakers make the great decision of not only never explaining the cause of the recurring day, but that we also get to experience Phil’s first day before it recurs. In the latter, we’re pre-empted to Phil’s attitude for the rest of the film, making all the moments that come later all the more amusing. In the former, not explaining the cause would have bogged the film down unnecessarily so it is to their credit that they kept that side of things as simple as possible. There’s also the way the ‘recurring’ nature of the plot is played out; surprisingly, it’s never boring, despite replaying certain events again and again. There is some latitude in the plot to go elsewhere as Phil tries many different things on each recurring day, but essentially it never leaves the town so it’s to the filmmakers credit that they never let this joke tire or become repetitive.
Director Harold Ramis does a particularly good job of playing the theme, “if you could do something over again, what would you do differently?” This is used to comedic effect when Phil keeps replaying the same ‘date’ with Rita, only perfecting his dialogue with her with each attempt. Or when Phil tries to kill himself in many different ways only to wake up alive again on ‘Groundhog Day’. It’s also used in a more moving way when later in the film, as Phil is becoming more altruistic, he tries to save a homeless man from dying but no matter how many different ways he tries, he can’t alter the outcome. These themes play in to the notion that you have to let yourself go to your situation rather than trying to change it to the way you want it, as this is the only way that you can find any happiness. If you’re too worried about what you don’t have then you won’t be content with what you do have. For a comedy, that’s a fairly lofty theme and it’s no wonder that Buddhists love this film (a fact Ramis discusses in the making-of documentary).
“Groundhog Day” is a witty, light-hearted film that manages to make its seemingly limited premise an unlimited excursion in to comedy and the meaning of life.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The video transfer is quite reasonable; the picture is clear and vibrant throughout most of the running time. The colours are good if not overly strong, and there are the occasional film scratches and jumps. The audio transfer is very good, although this is not the type of film that will make use of your surround sound system (although the epic shot of the clock changing from 5:59am to 6.00pm utilises the surrounds quite effectively!). We also get additional language tracks (French, German, Italian and Spanish). Overall, it's a good transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: We get a handful of extras on this DVD. The audio commentary by Harold Ramis, despite some gaps here and there where he doesn't speak, is quite informative and he delivers a lot of interesting information. However, I found the 25-minute making of documentary a better piece; it's not a promo piece and despite it's short running time it manages to cover a lot of ground, including the interesting tidbit that the original script saw the film start with Phil already reliving the Groundhog Day which was changed when it was noticed that doing this would miss an opportunity to see Phil's first reaction to it which had a lot of comedic potential. Rounding out the extras are trailers and subtitles (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Hebrew and Croatian). Overall, a decent set of extras for a single disc DVD.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth having in the collection.

FILM RATING: 8.5/10 -- EXTRAS RATING: 7/10 -- OVERALL DVD RATING: 8/10 

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net