Groundhog Day (1993)

“Groundhog Day” is a hilarious and imaginative comedy that features one of Bill Murray’s best performances and one of the most unique plots in modern cinema!

This film reunited Murray with “Ghostbusters” co-star Harold Ramis, who wrote, directed and very briefly starred in “Groundhog Day.” I don’t think Ramis got enough credit for how excellent his direction of “Groundhog Day” was; comedy aside, the movie has a fantastic eerie atmosphere as Phil has no idea why the timey-whimey stuff is happening to him (I love the fact that we never find out what causes the time loop, it really adds to the mystery of the story.)

One of the best aspects of “Groundhog Day” is how it portrays the passage of time. Whilst some have said that this film is “boring”, I am 100% certain that the at-times slow pacing was deliberate. As you watch certain sequences repeat themselves over and over and over and over again, you are given a sense of how much time has passed. Whereas some films give the confused impression that the story takes place over either a weekend or a fortnight, “Groundhog Day” makes Phil Connor’s journey feel extremely long (in fact, Harold Ramis stated that Phil was trapped in Punxsutawney for about a decade!)

If you love Bill Murray then this is the movie for you as the Bill Murray-isms are cranked up to eleven! Even if he is simply playing himself, Murray’s performance as disgruntled and egotistical weatherman Phil Connors is spectacular. From his trademark dry wit (“I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life”) to some surprisingly touching scenes, Murray balances laugh-out-loud humour and deeper character moments astoundingly well. If it weren’t for “Ghostbusters” this would be far-and-away Bill Murray’s greatest performance!

It surprises me that I like “Groundhog Day” as much as I do, considering that it is essentially a romantic-comedy. I think the reason that this film clicks with me unlike, say, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, is that the romance between Phil and Rita isn’t the only thing driving the narrative forward. The film is less about these two characters falling in love, but more about Phil’s arc from self-obsessed cynic to caring and mature human being. This is what “Groundhog Day” is really all about (it’s basically “Scrooged” but less weird.)

On the comedy side of things, this film is hysterically funny. The script is uproarious and sharply written, filled with quotable lines and memorable situations. My favourite scenes were the moments with Ned, Phil’s extremely irritating school-fellow whose one meeting with Phil becomes tortuous for both the protagonist and us. I love these scenes because we can all relate to being talked at by someone who we wished would just go away!

But my favourite moment in the whole film is the scene when Phil kidnaps the weather-forecasting Groundhog (who is also named Phil) and places the groundhog on the steering wheel during the high-speed pursuit. I don’t know why this sequence is so amusing but it just is! It’s pure cinema gold!

In conclusion, “Groundhog Day” is an immensely enjoyable comedy with an outstanding central performance, a brilliant script, a premise that has become legendary (look no further than “Edge of Tomorrow”, which should’ve been titled “Groundhog Day, but the Groundhog is Tom Cruise”) this is a film that deserves the praise that it receives.

It’s great!

It’s great!

It’s great!

It’s great!

It’s great!

It’s great!