Groundhog Day (1993)

I can't exactly pinpoint when I first learned of this movie, or its concept, for that matter; rather, it was one of those titles I gradually heard about over time, likely on specials such as Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies (I know it was featured on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs but I missed that special when it originally aired). It wasn't until I started seeing reviews on YouTube, from people like Coolduder and even James Rolfe, that I learned what Groundhog Day was about exactly and I did indeed find it somewhat intriguing. But because comedy isn't a genre I seek out very often, and also due to my disdain for Bill Murray at the time, which I talked about in my review of the Ghostbusters movies, it took a while for me to come around to the idea of watching the movie, especially since I knew this was the one that led to Murray shutting Harold Ramis out of his life for no good reason. Still, when I found the Blu-Ray at Barnes & Noble in the summer of 2012, I figured, "Why not?", and picked it up, since I'd heard how, in addition to being a great comedy, it was just a great movie in general. I'm glad I did, too, because those sentiments proved to be absolutely spot on. Make no mistake, this is definitely among Murray and Ramis' best work. Not only are the acting, characters, directing, and writing all just superb, the movie manages to be funny, cynical, sweet, and even philosophical all at the same time, yet never gets too heavy-handed with any of it. It's also one of those movies that, the more times you watch it, the more you get out of it, and, even more rarely, is one where I really can't find anything wrong with it, despite how hard I think of something.

Phil Connors is a Pittsburgh-based weatherman who, on February 1st, makes a prediction that an approaching snowstorm will just barely miss the Western Pennsylvania area. Phil then prepares to head over to Punxsutawney to cover the annual Groundhog Day festival, this being his fourth year doing so... and he hates every single second of it. Desperately hoping for another job elsewhere, Phil makes the journey with his cameraman, Larry, and new producer, Rita Hanson. He stays overnight in the town's Cherry Tree Inn and awakens at 6:00 the next morning to Sonny and Cher singing I Got You, Babe on the clock radio. He also hears the DJs mention that the National Weather Service is calling for a blizzard warning later that day, but he remains confident about his prediction and that he'll be back in Pittsburgh as soon as the festival is done. After running into Ned Ryerson, an old high school classmate of his turned obnoxious insurance salesman, Phil makes his way to Gobbler's Knob and goes through the motions in his coverage of the ceremony surrounding the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. Once it's done, Phil is eager to get out of town as quickly as possible, only for him and his crew to run into the very blizzard he said wouldn't hit their area. With all roads out of Punxsutawney closed, they have no choice but to spend another night in town, something Phil is not at all happy about. Following an unexpectedly freezing shower in his room at the Cherry Tree, Phil goes to bed, only to awaken the next morning to the same song, the same banter between the DJs, and the same day's events, right down to running into Ned Ryerson, the Groundhog Day festival, and getting trapped in town by a blizzard. Come the next day, it's the exact same routine, and that's when it hits Phil: he's caught in a continuous time loop, forced to relive Groundhog Day again and again and again, possibly for all eternity. Initially horrified, Phil comes to realize that the day will completely reset the next morning, no matter what he does or what happens to him, which he finds does have certain advantages... until it truly becomes his own personal purgatory, one he may never escape unless he does some serious soul-searching and attempts to better himself.

The original concept for Groundhog Day came from writer Danny Rubin who, after reading The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice's sequel to Interview With The Vampire, came up with the idea of someone who was immortal eventually becoming horribly bored with it, and pondered how and if such a person could go through any kind of meaningful change. He wrote it as a spec script to get his foot in the Hollywood door, devising the notion of eternity actually being the same day repeating over and over as a way to eschew the expense of depicting the protagonist in numerous historical periods over time. He decided to make Groundhog Day the backdrop purely because it was the first holiday he came to when he looked at a calendar and figured that, while it was certainly known, few outside of Pennsylvania knew of the annual festival in Punxsutawney (I used to think both the festival and the town itself were made up for the movie). After Rubin finished the script and shopped it around, it eventually found its way to an agent named Richard Lovett, who happened to represent Harold Ramis. After reading it, Ramis became interested in its underlying themes and the story of a man redeeming himself, but felt it needed more humor in order to appeal to the general public. He and Rubin extensively reworked the script during pre-production, and even more work was done when Bill Murray was cast as Phil Connors, and even after it was completed, it was continually changed throughout filming. In the end, while he's admitted that the final movie is good, Rubin didn't like having to compromise so much of what he originally wrote and decided not pursue screenwriting as a career.

Though he'd had a lot of success in the 80's by writing and/or acting in movies like Stripes, Back to School, and especially the two Ghostbusters movies, by the time of Groundhog Day, Harold Ramis' career had stalled. His last major work had been Ghostbusters II, but he hadn't directed since 1986's Club Paradise, which wasn't, and still isn't, as well regarded as Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation. Looking for a suitable project to give his directing career a much-needed shot in the arm, as well as itching to do something outside of the box, Ramis was, naturally, attracted to Groundhog Day. However, he significantly toned down the darker elements that were more prevalent in the original script and put in a lot more comedy, as well as emphasized the romantic elements. The gambit worked, as it became one of the most commercially successful and universally loved movies he was ever involved with, and unlike his first two, more well-known directing efforts, which are remembered primarily for the comedy and the big-name actors who appeared in them, this one has real heart and something to say. Unfortunately, it would also lead to a fall-out with Bill Murray that would last for just about the rest of Ramis' life and would hurt him very deeply.

Similar to what I said in my review of Uncle Buck while discussing John Candy, it's amazing to think that people such as Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton were considered for Phil Connors, as it feels like a character tailor-made for Bill Murray. During the first act and much of the second, he does exactly what you'd expect: make Phil a cynical, sarcastic, narcissistic douche who can't even attempt to hide his contempt for the people he works with or his job in general, openly hoping for a better gig elsewhere. He especially despises his annual trip to cover the Groundhog Day festival in Punxsutawney, as he often calls the groundhog himself a "rodent" or "rat," and sees the town itself as Hicksville. In fact, he seems to hate people in general, although he does have something of a soft spot for Rita Hanson from the moment he first lays eyes on her, not that it stops him from being his usual sarcastic, snide self to her as well. Come Groundhog Day itself, Phil is eager to do what he has to and get out of town as soon as he can. But the day turns out to be especially miserable for him, as he not only runs into an annoying old high schoolmate of his, Ned Ryerson, steps off the sidewalk and into a deep, half-frozen puddle, and gives a half-hearted report on the festival, but when he and his crew attempt to head back to Pittsburgh, Phil learns his prediction that an oncoming blizzard would miss their area was very, very wrong. With the roads leading out of Punxsutawney closed, they have no choice but to stay there another night. And just to add insult to injury, Phil's attempt at a hot shower proves bitterly cold, as his inn has no hot water on such a day. When he wakes up the next morning to Sonny and Cher's I Got You, Babe again and the same banter by the local DJs, Phil thinks they played the same tape... until he looks out the window to see the town isn't completely snowed over and everybody's heading to the festival. He becomes even more freaked out when he relives the same events, right down to the festival itself, and believes he's either losing mind or experiencing a severe case of deja vu. When he goes to bed that night, he tries a little experiment by breaking a pencil in half and putting it on the nightstand with the clock. Come the next morning, he gets the same wake-up call and the pencil is intact, confirming that he is caught in a time loop that only he is aware of.

In their developing and re-writing of the screenplay, Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin decided to have Phil go through the five stages of grief throughout the loop. First, he's in "denial," where he has an idea of what's happening but tries to make himself believe he's just experiencing a severe case of deja vu. He even asks Rita to slap him in the face to see if it can snap him out of this "delusion," which she's more than happy to do. Come the third morning, when he's now all but

positive about it, he moves over to "anger," where he runs out of the inn in severe agitation, ignoring those he comes across, doesn't do the report, and has Rita meet with him in the local diner so he can tell her about it. Naturally, she doesn't believe him and suggests he needs psychiatric help, which really aggravates and annoys him. He goes to see both a neurologist and psychiatrist, neither of whom are at all helpful, and agitate him further when they respectively tell him to get a CAT scan

or MRI in Pittsburgh and to come back the next day, neither of which are options open to him. Irritated and not knowing what to do about his predicament, Phil gets drunk a local bowling alley with a pair of locals, then goes to drive them home. On the way, when he asks them what they would do if there were no tomorrow, they tell him it would mean they could do whatever they wanted, as there would be no consequences. Thinking they're right, Phil gets the cops after them and leads them on a chase that involves him driving down

some train tracks towards an oncoming train, swerving off at the last moment, and finally getting arrested and put in jail. Come 6:00 the next morning, Phil awakens back in his bedroom at the Cherry Tree Inn. Realizing that he can, indeed, do whatever he pleases, he enters the third stage: bargaining. Throwing caution to the wind, he gorges himself on sweets and drinks coffee straight from the pitcher; finds out everything he can about a local woman, Nancy Taylor, in order to trick her into thinking they went to high school together and

make her interested in being with him; and learns exactly what happens when an armored car stops at a bank so he can steal a bag full of money and use it to buy a fancy car and show up at the local theater, dressed as Clint Eastwood from the Man with No Name movies, while his date is dressed as a French maid.

The next part of Phil's bargaining stage is when he decides to use the time loops to find out everything there is to know about Rita: her likes, dislikes, taste in men, etc., in order to eventually seduce her. He even goes as far as to continually sabotage the van to keep them in town longer so he can learn more. Little by little, he gets closer to her, learning her favorite drink and acting like it's his favorite as well, making the same toast she likes to make, appearing to share her views and her love for 19th

century French poetry, and so on. The sad thing is that, for a little bit, things go really well between them. During one loop, they have a really nice date, where they build a snowman, dance romantically in a gazebo, and when the two of them walk to the Cherry Tree Inn, Rita tells Phil that her expectations for the day, and him, have completely changed from that morning. But, when they go back up to his room, Phil gets a little too clingy and desperate for her not to leave, going as

far as to say he loves her. That's when Rita rebuffs him, as she says he doesn't even know her, and she also correctly guesses that he found a way to learn of her likes and dislikes. She slaps him across the face before leaving, one of many slaps he receives across various loops, and at various points across the night, as he repeatedly tries seduce her. He finally gives up and enters into the depression stage, despondent over his inability to escape from this trap he's found himself in. His reports at the Groundhog Day festival become nastier and more

mean-spirited, he starts destroying his clock radio over being sick of hearing I Got You, Babe, and even begins committing suicide. First, he abducts Punxsutawney Phil after the festival and drives them both off a cliff. That doesn't work, and neither does taking a bath with a toaster, walking out in front of a truck, or throwing himself off the Pennsylvania Hotel's roof.

Ultimately, Phil tells Rita about his situation again, using his knowledge of everybody and everything that's about to happen in order to convince her. This time, he also calls himself a god, and is only half-joking about it, too. He gets downright philosophical, suggesting that omnipotence is living so long to where you just know everything, and also says that, after committing suicide so many times, he probably doesn't even exist anymore. Most importantly, he reveals how much

he knows about Rita to her, pours out his despair over what's happening, laments how she won't remember any of it the next day, and, in the process, realizes he's grown to genuinely love her. One of the most heartfelt, sweetest moments comes late that night, after she's determined to spend the whole day with him to see what happens. As the snow falls outside, the two of them lay atop the sheets, Phil reading to Rita as she dozes off. When she does fall asleep, he stops reading, pulls a bit of the cover over her, looks at her, and gently says,

"What I wanted to say was... I think you're the kindest, sweetest, prettiest person I've ever met in my life. I've never seen anyone that's nicer to people than you are." She stirs slightly in her sleep, he kisses her on her cheek, and continues, "And the first time I saw you... something happened to me. I never told you but... I knew that I wanted to hold you as hard as I could. I don't deserve someone like you. But if I ever could, I swear I would love you for the rest of my life." She awakens briefly, asking if he said something, and then goes back to sleep, as he says, "Good night, Rita." And, as expected, come the next morning, he wakes up in bed alone.

With that, he decides to use the time loops to better himself and help those around him, having entered the final stage of "acceptance." He helps out an old, homeless man he's been seeing on the street corner, giving him a crap-load of money; he brings Rita and Larry some coffee and pastries, then tells them where they can get a better shot of the festival; he takes piano lessons; he learns how to make ice sculptures; and, overall, he's a much more pleasant person to everyone he comes across, including 

Ned Ryerson (he's a little too friendly to Ned, though, to the point of making him uncomfortable). But, for all the good he does, he finds there are some things he can't change. The old homeless man he gave money to dies, despite several attempts he makes to intervene, including one where he treats him to a hearty breakfast, only for him to die on the ground in a back-alley that night. Despite this heartbreaking failure, Phil continues to improve. During one loop, he makes a very

inspiring report at the festival, saying, "When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter." It's so inspiring that the other news reporters there stop their own reporting and listen to him. He goes on to perform more good deeds, such as catching a kid who falls

out of a tree (though the kid isn't exactly grateful); helps some old women when their tire goes flat; saves Buster Green, the head of ceremonies, from choking to death; and that night, at the annual banquet, he absolutely kills it with his now expert piano playing. And once Rita hears of the many other good deeds he performed during the day, she successfully bids on him at a bachelor auction.

After making an ice sculpture of her, Phil proclaims that, come what may, he's happy now because of his love for her. Rita returns his affections and the two of them walk off back to his room at the Cherry Tree. Come the next morning, when 6:00 rolls around, it looks as if the loop has reset again... until Phil realizes Rita is in bed with him. Finally, it's February 3rd and he can move on with life, only with Rita by his side, and possibly in Punxsutawny, given his last line. Different people

have interpreted the movie and its meaning in different ways, especially those with strong, religious faiths, such as Christianity, Catholicism, and Buddhism; Harold Ramis himself, who was Jewish but adopted a Buddhist lifestyle when he married his second wife, did incorporate some of that religion's precepts when discussing the film, saying he felt the original script had themes of reincarnation. How long the loop goes on or why it even begins happening in the first place is a major subject of debate, with Ramis and Danny Rubin

suggesting it may have gone on for decades or even thousands of years! For me, though, I just look at the movie very simply, which is as sort of another take on the basic story of A Christmas Carol (ironic, I know, given how Bill Murray had starred in Scrooged several years before). Like Ebenezer Scrooge, Phil Connors is a miserable, selfish, and downright cruel man whom some form of higher power decides to give the chance to redeem himself. The difference is that, rather than showing how his life will turn out if he doesn't change, it sticks him in his own private purgatory, one that, over time, makes him see the error of his ways and allows him to experience the worst type of loneliness and futility imaginable. Once he decides to embrace life, be good to others, and accept the bad with the good, no matter how much he may want to change it, he's freed and comes out the other side all the better for it.

It's a shame that, for as much as he wanted to focus more on the philosophical elements, Bill Murray didn't embrace what the movie was expressing in real life. On the contrary, by all accounts, he was a massive pain in the ass during filming, often coming across as temperamental, difficult, and just nasty. Granted, it wasn't a physically pleasant shoot, due to the bitterly cold weather and its sheer length, not to mention that he got bit by the groundhog twice and had to get rabies shots, and he was going through a divorce at the time. But the fact that he was such a dick to Harold Ramis throughout filming and broke off all contact with him once the movie was done speaks volumes about Murray's character. Regardless of how miserable the shoot was and their disagreements about the script, it couldn't have been so bad as to warrant ending a friendship and fruitful working relationship that had been going on for decades. I have heard that Murray possibly grew resentful over the idea that all of his best work was going to be credited to Ramis in some way but that's a pretty shitty reason to end a friendship and totally refuse all attempts to talk with the guy over the years. It especially frustrated me to know this when I would see interviews where Ramis, who always came off as a friendly, warm person, did nothing but speak highly of Murray (in his audio commentary for Groundhog Day, he doesn't say one harsh word about him or their falling out) and also lamented that they were no longer friends. And I know I'm repeating some stuff I said when I reviewed Ghostbusters but still, it pisses me off that it took Ramis being on his deathbed to make Murray swallow his pride and bury the hatchet, and that, until recently, you'd always get trashed for bringing it up, along with the laundry list of Murray's past bad behavior. Again, I don't deny that he's talented, but Murray often comes off as a selfish, mean-spirited prick who feels he can do what he wants without any consequences.

In stark contrast to Phil's initial character, Andie MacDowell plays Rita Hanson as a sweet, innocent, good-hearted woman who has a cheerful, almost childlike interest in the Groundhog Day festival. Even though Phil tends to be as snide to her as everyone else, and she isn't at all impressed with his narcissistic, self-indulgent mindset, she works with him as best as she can, even setting him up in a nice bed and breakfast while she stays in the hotel he complains is "fleabag" (and which it isn't by a long shot). Over the course of the time loops, you see her go through every type of opinion about him, from delusional and, when he's stuffing himself, an egocentric slob, to a snake in the grass who, one way or another, learned of her likes and dislikes in a ploy to seduce her (given the number of slaps we see him receive, she ended a loop with that opinion quite a few times). Several times, she has to deal with him coming off as mentally unstable to the point where he's suicidal, with one loop ending with her having to identify his body after he jumps to his death! But, in one loop, he manages to convince her of what's happening to him and she, in turn, decides to spend the whole day with him to see what happens. During that time, she suggests his predicament may be a gift rather than a curse, if he looks at it in a certain way, a notion that he takes to heart come the next day. Her warmth and devotion to stay with him right until the loop resets also makes him realize how much he loves her. Thus, after many more loops, when he's genuinely changed for the better and has helped make it an amazing Groundhog Day for everybody in Punxsutawney, she pays an enormous amount of money for him at a bachelor auction. The two of them then have a nice night together and, when they wake up in bed the next morning, Phil realizes the loop has been broken and he's free to spend his life with Rita.

Though he's third-billed after Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliot doesn't have much memorable to do as Larry, Phil's cameraman, except reaffirm everyone else's low opinion of him, one he's clearly built for himself after having worked with him for quite a while. I'm so used to seeing Elliot playing really oddball characters that it's weird to see him in such a straight role, where the only unusual thing about him is the way he looks. The one thing he does that's even somewhat memorable is unsuccessfully attempt to hit on Nancy Taylor, the woman who Phil seduced when he was going through the indulgent cycle of the time loop. He's so inconsequential, in fact, that he's not seen again after the scene at the banquet, where he's rejected by Nancy once and for all and then puts himself in the bachelor auction, only to be bought by an old woman, much to his chagrin, and for just 25 cents, no less.

The other characters are various Punxsutawney residents who, like Rita and Larry, have different experiences with Phil during different time loops. One of the most memorable is Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky), a former high school classmate of Phil's who, during their first encounter, he doesn't remember in the slightest. Ned tries to refresh his memory by saying he did the "whistling bellybutton" trick at the high school talent show, that he got the shingles so bad during his senior year that he almost couldn't graduate, and that he even dated Phil's sister a couple of times, until Phil himself put a stop to it. Though he still doesn't seem to remember him, Phil pretends he does, only for Ned to continue needling him and annoying him by coming on way too strong, attempting to sell him some life insurance. Phil is so eager to get away from him that he ends up stepping in a half-frozen puddle, which Ned laughs at obnoxiously and comments, "Watch out for that first step. It's a doozy!" In the first two loops, Phil, again, tries to get away from Ned as fast as he can, full-on running away from him during the second, and when Ned approaches him when he decides to use the loop to feed his indulgences, he flat-out decks him in the face. Later, when he starts to become a better, loving person, he's much more friendly and welcoming towards Ned, to the point where he kind of weirds him out by hugging him longer than he's comfortable and asking him to be with him. But, by the end of the final loop, he's made Ned his insurance agent and bought every kind of policy he has. That said, Ned still needs to be told when three's a crowd, as he attempts to go with Phil and Rita when they leave the banquet.

Nancy Taylor (Marita Geraghty) is a lovely woman who Phil learns a little bit about so, when he meets her at the festival during another loop, he's able to make her think the two of them went to high school together. Though she, of course, doesn't remember him at all, when he keeps pressing, saying he asked her to the prom, she goes along with it and acts like she does. She also agrees to go on a date with him after the festival, and the next thing you know, they're making out passionately in Phil's room at the Cherry Tree. However, Nancy is put off when Phil repeatedly calls her Rita, but she's forgiving about it and, unlike Rita, is putty in his hands when he suddenly says he loves her and asks her to marry him, despite their being strangers. In later loops, Phil sees her around town and acknowledges her, though she doesn't know him, and he even shares an intimate secret about her (she sounds like a chipmunk when she gets excited) in order to convince Rita that he's not lying about the time loops. Near the end of the film, Larry unsuccessfully tries to hit on Nancy but she isn't having it and turns him down flat repeatedly.

Other notable characters include Bill Murray's older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, as Buster Green, the head of ceremonies during the Groundhog Day festival, who Phil saves from choking in one loop and hosts the bachelor auction at the banquet; Mrs. Lancaster (Angela Paton), the kindly woman who runs the Cherry Tree Inn, dealing with Phil's sarcasm and nastiness with a smile, and, in one loop, is horrified when he uses a toaster to kill himself in the bathtub; a man (Ken

Hudson Campbell) who Phil runs into every day when he comes out of his room and whose interactions with him run the gambit from sarcastic and dismissive to confronting and, finally, very friendly; a woman (Peggy Roeder) who teaches Phil how to play the piano and gushes about him when he knocks them dead at the banquet; a psychiatrist (David Pasquesi) whom Phil sees during the second loop but proves to be no help at all, suggesting, much to his frustration, that he

come back and see him the next day; and Michael Shannon, in his film debut, as Fred, a man who, in one loop, learns his fiance, Debbie (Hynden Walch), is having second thoughts but, by the end, they're married thanks to Phil's intervention. Also, while they mock him when he first encounters them, Gus (Rick Ducommun) and Ralph (Rick Overton), these two locals whom Phil gets drunk with near the end of his second loop, actually understand his problem, in a way. When Phil asks, "What would you do if you were stuck in one place

and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?", Ralph sadly answers, "That about sums it up for me," while Gus downs another shot. In the later loop, when Phil is trying to prove his omnipotence to Rita, he introduces her to Gus, saying, "He hates his life here. He wishes he'd stayed in the Navy," and Gus comments, "Well, I could've retired on half pay after twenty years." And in case you didn't recognize him in that earlier shot, Harold Ramis has a quick cameo as the neurologist Phil goes to see. 

Going back to what I said about how the movie was shot in really uncomfortable physical conditions, you can see it when you watch it. During many of the daytime scenes, it looks and feels miserably cold, with gray, overcast skies, constant snow and ice, even before the blizzard comes through, and moments of wind. I've read that it was often down in the 20's and it stayed that way for much of the shoot, which lasted almost three whole months (then, when it started to transition into summer, everyone had to act like it

was still winter). Because of that, I do cringe when Phil steps into the half-frozen puddle and I don't blame Bill Murray for being pissy about it, as that had to have sucked. And speaking of the blizzard, when Phil and company run into it when trying to leave Punxsutawney, it looks like they shot the exteriors of that scene in an actual snowstorm, as it looks like it could easily be down in the teens with the windchill. But, at the same time, the movie does manage to capture the inherent beauty of

winter in its nighttime scenes where Phil and Rita are walking the town streets, often in a gentle snowfall, as the place is lit up by both the streetlamps and lovely decorative lights akin to what you see at Christmas. That's to say nothing of the beautiful ice sculptures seen throughout the movie, and in the ending scene, you see the town covered in snow on a beautiful, cloudless winter morning, a stark contrast to the almost constant dreariness we've seen up to that point, which can be seen as another reassuring sign that Phil has escaped his purgatory.

Rather than film in the real town of Punxsutawney, which was too isolated and didn't have many spots that fit the story's needs, the filmmakers actually shot in the town of Woodstock, Illinois, which had been briefly featured in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (there was also a bit of filming on the Universal Studios backlot). The place definitely has that "small town" feel you'd expect and is what they wanted, and because of the time loop, you get very familiar with a number of spots, like the curb on the main street, where Phil runs into Ned

Ryerson and meets the homeless man; Gobbler's Knob at the town square (in reality, it's outside of Punxsutawney), where they have the actual ceremony involving the groundhog getting pulled out of an artificial tree stump with his name on it, as Buster Green declares whether or not he saw his shadow; the Cherry Street Inn, a very lovely bed and breakfast where Phil always awakens during the time loop; the Pennsylvania Hotel, where Rita stays and where they have the banquet after the

festival; the Tip Top Cafe, where Phil, twice, tells Rita what's happening to him, and also where he gets to know just about everything there is to know about many of the townspeople; the bowling alley, where he gets drunk with Gus and Ralph; and even the town's old jail, where he's imprisoned after being chased by the cops and driving along the railroad tracks. The town square itself gets a lot of love during the nighttime romance scenes, when Phil and Rita are having fun playing in the snow,

dancing in the big, lovely gazebo, and when Phil is making an ice sculpture of her. Except for the scenes on the road during the opening and when they attempt to leave town, the only major setting not shot in Woodstock is the big quarry where Phil and the groundhog crash, which was in Rockford.

Speaking of which, that crash is a surprisingly effective bit of special effects work, which could've been done either through miniatures or for real, as the movie did have the budget for such an effect. In fact, while they're nothing major, the two car chase scenes in the film are quite well-done and feature a tiny but fun amount of collateral damage to the town, like mailboxes and signs getting plowed through. Going back to effects work, I have a feeling the shots of Phil in the pickup truck with the groundhog might've been done with the use of

blue screen, as it has that look to it. There also seems to have been some sort of photographic effect used for the POV shot of the truck heading towards Phil during one of his suicide attempts. And in the opening, you actually see how weathermen make use of blue screen techniques, as Rita is introduced playing around with it once Phil's forecast is done (in his commentary, Harold Ramis says Bill Murray had a lot of fun playing around with that blue screen off-camera).

Much of the humor comes from what you expect from Bill Murray, particularly during the film's half or so. In the opening, he's giving the forecast in the manner of a gameshow host, saying, "Somebody asked me today, 'Phil, if you could be anywhere in the world, where would you like to be?' And I said to him, 'Probably right here: Elko, Nevada, our nation's high at 79 today.' Out in California, they're gonna have some warm weather tomorrow, gang wars, and some very overpriced real estate. Up in the Pacific Northwest, as you can see, they're

gonna have some very, very tall trees." Then, to signify the oncoming blizzard, he blows as the graphic projected behind him moves, adding, "Front comin' our way. Look out. What's that gonna mean to us in the Three Rivers area?" The graphic goes to a big close-up of the light-blue ring with points meant to signify a cold front and he exclaims, "One of these big, blue things!" He goes on to mime how the front is going to mix with moisture coming up from the Gulf, then makes his prediction that it's going to miss Pittsburgh and hit

Altoona instead, before wiping his forehead and melodramatically proclaiming, "Phew! Close call, folks." Following that, you get Murray's expected sarcastic, snide wit in his interactions with the other characters, particularly Rita and Larry, like when he mocks Rita's innocent enthusiasm about the Groundhog Day festival or when he talks about the sloppy way Larry eats. It continues with his interactions with the people at the Cherry Tree, like the guy in the hallway and Mrs. Lancaster, and his initial, uncomfortable run-in with Ned Ryerson. We

also get some general buffoonery and even some slapstick, like when they realize the roads are closed due to the blizzard. After again insisting that the blizzard is supposed to hit Altoona, even going through his miming again, a state trooper tells Phil, "Now you can go back to Punxsutawney, or you can go ahead and freeze to death. It's your choice. So what's it gonna be?" As he stands there, shivering and barely able to speak, Phil answers, "I'm thinking." He's then on the phone with the

operator, complaining, "Come on, all the long distance lines are down? What about the satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don't you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies or for celebrities? I'm both. I'm a celebrity in an emergency. Can you patch me through on that line please?" Someone with a snow shovel comes in and accidentally whacks him in the head with it. And that night, he tries to take a hot shower at the Cherry Tree, only to nearly freeze himself to death,

learning too late that there's no hot water on such a cold day. It's really funny to watch him fumble about in the tub, trying to turn the water down, before being forced to jump out. This happens again during the first night of the loop, and Phil can be heard desperately yelling, "Aah! Ohh! Oh my God! Aagh!", and he grabs the thing holding the soap and shampoo to smack the shower-head away from him.

Naturally, it's funny watching Phil initially react to the time loop, first out of confusion and the fear that he may be losing his mind, then anger that he's being screwed with, and frustration that no one believes him or gets it. Case in point, the psychiatrist, who suggests they meet again the next day, to which Phil responds by covering his face with a pillow and punching himself. That night, as he's drowning his sorrows at the bowling alley, he laments, "I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster. Drank Pina Coladas. At sunset,

we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day, over and over and over?" (I have a feeling that's more his idea of the perfect day than one he actually experienced, don't you?) But once he realizes that Gus and Ralph are right, that no tomorrow means no consequences, Phil decides to have some fun. First, he drives through a mailbox, getting the police after him, then drives on the railroad tracks towards an oncoming train, horrifying Gus and Ralph, while he calmly says, "I'm bettin' he's gonna

swerve first." Phil does swerve off the tracks at the very last moment, laughing and declaring that he's not going to live by society's rules anymore. He crashes through a big, cardboard cutout of Punxsutawney Phil and slams into the side of a parked car. When the cops pull up and one walks up to his side, Phil says, "Yeah, three cheeseburgers, two large fries, two chocolate shakes, and one large Coke." Ralph, who's still really sauced, adds, "And some flapjacks," which

he had a hankering for earlier, and Phil asks, "Too early for flapjacks?", then smiles petulantly. Next thing we see, he's locked in jail, only to wake up back at the Cherry Tree the next morning. That's when we really get to see him indulge himself, like punching out Ned, stuffing himself at the diner, and stealing from an armored truck. What he does with that money is ridiculous: he pulls up to the local theater in a really nice car and gets out dressed in Clint Eastwood's iconic outfit from his spaghetti

westerns, right down to the poncho, hat, and small cigars. He even talks like him, telling the woman he's on a date with to call him "Bronco." At that moment, Nancy Taylor walks by and Phil says, "Hi," though she, obviously, doesn't know who he is this time. He comments, "My own fiance doesn't remember me."

The section where Phil falls into depression about his predicament is simultaneously sad and yet, funny, if darkly so. We get the impression of just how much it's weighing on him with this massive close-up of the clock radio's numbers flipping over to 6:00 AM with a loud thud, followed by him laying in bed in total misery, predicting what the DJs are about to say. We then see him watching Jeopardy! with Mrs. Lancaster and the other guests that night, as he correctly answers every question, even when Alex hasn't yet given the clue, much to

their astonishment. He gets applause for this, while he drinks some whiskey straight from the bottle. His coverage of the festival becomes laced with more venom, as he sneers, "This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off, waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it." He then turns to the people behind him and proclaims, "You're hypocrites, all of ya!" He next takes his anger out on Larry and Rita, telling the latter, "I'll give you a

winter prediction: it's gonna be cold, it's gonna be gray, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life." We get a short montage of him getting fed with I Got You, Babe, as he pushes the clock off the nightstand, smashes it to pieces, and grabs it and smashes it on the floor, the latter of which only manages to distort the sound. After that is when, in desperation to end the loop, he abducts Punxsutawney Phil by commandeering the pickup truck he's placed into and taking off in it. As the

police, the masters of ceremony, and Rita and Larry chase him, he drives out of town, with Phil sitting in his lap, his front feet on the steering wheel. The chase heads into a construction site (when Phil tells the groundhog, "Don't drive angry," he bit him shortly after), where Phil seemingly traps himself. But then, he drives straight at them and goes over the edge, crashing the truck down into the bottom of the quarry. Rita and Larry look over the edge and Larry tries to be optimistic, saying Phil could be okay... when the truck explodes into a fireball. Doesn't stop him from getting a good shot of it, though.

When that elaborate suicide attempt doesn't work, things get very darkly funny when Phil tries various other ways to end his life. He takes a toaster from downstairs, takes it back up to his room, and drops it into a bathtub of water he's sitting in. The lights in the hotel dim, blink, then blow out, as downstairs, Mrs. Lancaster, who saw him take the toaster upstairs, realizes what just happened to her absolute horror. When that doesn't work, he walks out in front of an oncoming truck and then throws himself off the top of the

Pennsylvania Hotel. After the latter suicide, Rita and Larry actually have to come in and identify his body. Though Rita is too upset to say anything, Larry lies through his teeth and says Phil was a great guy whom he liked a lot. Following that, when the movie becomes genuinely heartwarming as Phil starts to change for the better, we get some more wholesome-style comedy, like his going to see about a piano lesson and offering the woman $1,000 for it, resulting in her basically kicking her

current student out; Phil getting really friendly with the man in the hallway and Ned; his piano teacher grimacing at his initial bad playing; him nearly killing himself to catch that ungrateful kid who falls out of the tree; and Larry failing completely to impress Nancy Taylor, as well as trying to auction himself off, only for an old lady to bid on him.

But as I've said, it's not all laughs here, as the film, when it's not being darkly funny about it, does get into the misery and severe loneliness Phil begins to feel about his predicament, especially when he manages to pour his heart out to Rita and form a real connection with her, knowing that it will be reset come morning. Another especially heart-wrenching part of the story is Phil learning that, no matter how many loops he goes through or how informed he is about what's going to happen, some things are inevitable and can't be changed, like the

old homeless man's death. After refusing and ignoring him for much of the film, Phil finally helps him out in the third act by giving him a lot of money to help him get back on his feet. But, later that night, he sees him struggling down the sidewalk, clearly in bad shape. Phil takes him to a hospital, only to later be told that he passed away. Even though he's told that the man died of natural causes, Phil is unable to accept it and, during the next loop, he treats the man to a hearty breakfast,

only for him to die again that night, despite Phil's attempts to save him. This second instance is especially sad, as you see Phil desperately trying to breathe life back into the man after he's collapsed on the ground, shaking him and giving him mouth-to-mouth, only to hear the man take his last breath before passing away. Phil is clearly devastated and at a loss over this, looking up at the sky with an expression that clearly says, "Why?" Despite what he told Rita earlier, Phil now knows he isn't a god and has to accept what the nurse told him, that, "Sometimes, people just die." Though we don't see it, hopefully, during his final loop, he was able to do something to make the man's true last day a good one.

While people of different faiths have varied readings of the movie's themes and spiritual meaning, I think we can all relate to that feeling of our life being the same exact thing, day in and day out. Just like how Gus and Ralph lament their boring, dead-end lives in Punxsutawney, everybody, especially those who have average, nine-to-five jobs, has probably felt like their very existence is meaningless, that it's the same sequence of events repeating endlessly, and nothing they do contributes anything to the world or makes

a difference. I know I've certainly gone through those kind of ruts before, especially since I don't have a job and doing this is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable ways I fill the time. But, as much as I do like to think these reviews are my own personal contribution to the world, if they can even be called that, there are moments where I get down on myself and feel, "God, I'm worthless. Nobody cares about this. Life is passing me by and I've done nothing to earn my keep." That feeling of sameness is especially bad during the wintertime,

where it gets dark early and it's too cold to get out and do anything (and I tend to have very late nights, meaning half of the day is already gone by the time I get up). And yet, as Bill Murray interpreted the original screenplay, there is also the notion that the sameness is partially self-inflicted due to a fear of change, which I can also relate to. The familiar can get boring but it's also comfortable, whereas change is unpredictable and even scary, even if it means changing who you are

for the better, a concept Phil took a long time to embrace. And finally, there's what I think is the movie's ultimate conceit, that once you embrace life to the fullest, accept everything that each day brings, whether it's good or bad, and not waste time worrying about what you could've done differently or wishing that you could do so, that feeling of monotony and futility will go away and become meaningless in and of itself.

The music was the work of George Fenton, who'd previously scored movies such as Gandhi, The Company of Wolves, and The Fisher King. His music for Groundhog Day is just as varied as the movie itself, as it starts with a really piece that transitions into an over-the-top, marching band type of sound, and during the latter part of the opening credits over the drive to Punxsutawney, you get this delightful, upbeat song called I'm Your Weatherman, performed Delbert McClinton and written by both Fenton and Harold Ramis. Said song, which also plays during the latter part of the ending credits, is, as you can guess just from the title, tied to the movie's story and themes, with lyrics such as, "Predictions show/A steady low/You're feelin' just the same. But seasons come/And seasons go/I'll make you smile again. If you don't believe me/take me by the hand/Can't you feel you're warmin' up? Yeah, I'm your weatherman." It actually fits both for Phil's predicament and his feelings about Rita. Also, they chose Sonny and Cher's I Got You, Babe for the song that Phil repeatedly wakes up to because of its repetitive nature and sound, and every time he heads out to Gobbler's Knob, he has to endure the song, Pennsylvania Polka, played over the loudspeaker. In any case, the music sounds strangely whimsical, yet a bit mischievous as well, when they run into the blizzard the first time, and when Phil first experiences the time loop, you hear a subtle, weird piece that wouldn't be out of place in The Twilight Zone. One of my personal favorites parts of the score is when Phil takes Gus and Ralph on a wild ride through town, which is a hilarious and energetic theme with a mean electric guitar sound to much of it. We also get some saucy music for Phil's passionate, fireside make-out with Nancy Taylor, a Danny Elfman-like sneaking theme for when he takes money out of the armored car, and an expected western motif for when he dresses like Clint Eastwood. There's also a light-hearted, humorously underhanded sound for when he tries to seduce Rita. 

What's really clever is how, when Phil and Rita are dancing in the gazebo, it's to the Ray Charlies song, You Don't Know Me, which brilliantly underscores the issue here, which Phil doesn't grasp. Then, the montage of slaps he receives from her over the various loops is punctuated by a light, silly instrumental version of the song, played on an oboe, which reacts to the slaps, and after the last one, you hear a bluesy, saxophone version as Phil walks back to his room in defeat. The chase that occurs when Phil abducts the groundhog is scored rather like a Loony Tunes cartoon, with a lot of xylophone in the music and big, bold horns, while Phil driving off the cliff and into the quarry is scored very dramatically. His subsequent suicide attempts are initially scored to sound both morbid and yet darkly humorous, but then, him throwing himself out of the tower is done in a sincerely touching manner, alluding to how genuinely desperate for release he is. The music for his and Rita's blossoming romance is very sweet and touching, working very well for the scene where he admits that he loves Rita and wishes she wouldn't disappear, as she sleeps next to him on the bed. But, as you might expect, the saddest and most touching piece of music is when he realizes there's nothing he can do to save the old homeless man, which plays throughout his attempt to keep him from dying and culminates in a truly sad motif when he fails to revive him. The note the movie ends on is a much happier one, though, with more comedy for Phil's good deeds, him rocking out on the keyboard during the banquet, and whimsical, happy music for when he realizes he's finally out of the loop, with the first part of the credits set to Almost Like Being In Love, by Nat King Cole.

It may have taken me a while to see Groundhog Day but I'm glad I finally did, as it truly is a wonderful movie. Despite my misgivings about him as a person and the terrible way he treated Harold Ramis afterward, I won't deny that Bill Murray is perfect in the lead role here, managing to give us his traditional dry, sarcastic wit and buffoonery while also showing off his real acting chops as his character goes through his impressive arc. Andie MacDowell is also really good as Murray's love interest and all the other actors do their jobs as well, even if their roles are rather minute in the end. In addition, Ramis' direction is right on point, the comedy is well-executed and funny, you really get the feeling of winter, both the positives and negatives, from the film, with the quaint, small town setting becoming very lovely under heavy snowfall, and the music score and soundtrack are excellent on all fronts. But, more than anything else, the story is not only engaging but also has many layers to it, with the core concept meaning different things to people of various faiths and yet, it can also be applicable to everyday people who feel stuck in a rut, showing them how to embrace and get more out of life so they don't feel that way. Nothing else to say other than it's an awesome little flick and one you owe to yourself if you've never seen it before.