DVD Review: Groundhog Day (A-)

Groundhog Day (1993)
Directed by Harold Ramis
Starring Bill Murray, Andie McDowell and Chris Elliott
MPAA: PG
Grade: A-

Review by Bobby Nashville

There's an old saying that goes "dying is easy, comedy is hard". I would imagine that "dramedy" or comedy with dramatic subtext must be even harder. That's probably why I have so much respect for one of the true comedic geniuses of our time, Bill Murray. He's been fantastic in dramatic/comedic roles in Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and many more. But perhaps his best role was as Phil Connors, the weatherman stuck inside Groundhog Day.

Murray is Connors, a bitter weatherman stuck in the Pittsburgh market. He's assigned to cover the Groundhog Day festival in Punxsutawney every year, much to his dismay. He covers the grand ceremony (Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog predicts six more weeks of winter) and hopes to head straight back to Pittsburgh.

Connors gets snowed in and has to stay the night back at his comfy Punxsutawney bed and breakfast. When he awakes at 6 AM, he finds himself forced to live through Groundhog's Day all over again. Same people, same happenings, exact same day here, with free reign to act however he pleases. Stuck to relive the same day over and over, he explores all of the possibilities: extreme driving, shameless womanizing, even suicide. No matter what Phil does, he always reawakens to 6 AM, Groundhog's Day in Punxsutawney.

The transformation that overcomes Bill Murray's character is mesmerizing. He starts out the film crabby: "You want a prediction about the weather, you're asking the wrong Phil. 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". As the effect of being stuck in the same day takes hold, he turns alarmed: "Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!" Realizing that he can use this bizarre twist of fate to do some good, he actually turns into a sweet gentle soul: "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."

A kind comedy with it's comedic edges intact, it's hard to find anything to truly criticize about Groundhog Day. Only time will tell, but I think this one ranks right up there with the classics of Billy Wilder and Frank Capra.

Buy Groundhog Day On DVD From Amazon.com