Groundhog Day (Special 15th Anniversary Edition)
by Harold Ramis
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DVD details
Actor: Andie MacDowell, Bill Murray, Chris Elliott, Robin Duke, Willie GarsonDirector: Harold Ramis
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: John Bailey
Composer: George Fenton
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Italian (Original Language); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Portuguese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-29
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Groundhog Day (Special 15th Anniversary Edition)
DVD Review: Effortlessly funny, Unpretentiously smart, and Surprisingly deep and touching
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is probably not for everyone, although I would recommend that most people try it. I think it takes a certain degree of inclination towards patient "moral" narratives to appreciate it deeply. For instance, those who only watch romantic comedies because they are expecting either gags (such as one could find in, say, "What about Bob") or linear romance with simple ups and downs (perhaps based on the theme of romantic destiny), those will probably not have the patience for it. Other than that, it is very easy to like. But here is why I, for one, loved it:
The movie presents a fairly sophisticated moral tale about time and fate (not destiny). Phil (Murray) starts as a pretentious, unpleasant, irritable, visibly unhappy and "self-absorbed" career guy. As the weatherman (nice touch!), he is obviously consumed by the low-level fame conferred upon him by the TV medium. The kind of self-important guy who always acts like he has somewhere more important to be, but never seems to "arrive" anywhere.
Then one day, due to bad weather, which he failed to predict (!!!), he is stuck in a small town that he despises and could not wait to leave. He entered the town in order to cover an event that he finds eminently absurd: groundhog day. Naturally annoyed, he goes to bed early. But, by a freak occurence of fate, he wakes up the next day to find himself again on groundhog day, unable to leave. And this goes on again and again. The basic point of the story is to show how his character evolves as he is forced to relive the same day again and again.
At first, there is the horror and the insanity, as he becomes aware of his absurd situation: having to live the same stupid day again and again, inexplicably. (The absurd life: a theme made famous by A. Camus.) Then there is the sense of despair. Then there is the realization, with enthusiasm naturally, that if nothing has consequences beyond today, and one can start over tomorrow, then one can get away with anything. (This is a theme made famous by Dostoevski). And he does: he drives recklessly, he cheats for sex, he steals money, he eats without moderation. (Some people call this "active nihilism.") Then there is the delusion of grandeur: he thinks he is a God. But it turns out that the one thing he really wants, he cannot get: that is, to charm his colleague (McDowell), a sucker for poetry who finds him vain. As he begins to find her genuinely interesting, he applies all his new powers to seduce her, refining his approach with new information day after day. But without success. Then, of course, comes the disillusionment. And the bitterness. Then the conviction that all this must end: he attempts suicide in a thousand different ways. Also without success: he keeps on waking up on the morning of groundhog day.
Realizing that he cannot escape his condition (which reminds me of something J.P. Sartre said), he eventually surrenders, and progressively, he begins to accept his fate and develop a deeper interest in his small world. He tries to make himself useful to others. First he becomes obsessed with making an old dying beggar he had always ignored survive. Without success. His day will never be that perfect. But he can still try to make it better. So, he comes to realize that there is an infinity of things he can do to make every day better for everyone, including himself. And this includes refining his aesthetic appreciation and artistic skills: he learns the piano, and ice sculpting. Ironically, while he no longer goes after McDowell's character, he incidentally acquires all the virtues that she would love in a man. So, yes, she falls in love with him. (Reminds me of those eastern philosophies that basically say that you have to know how to let go of your desire for things in order for the desirable things to come to you). They fall asleep side by side: another night after groundhog day, and he is infinitely grateful for it. Finally, precisely when it is no longer expected, something like grace or redemption occurs: the day after groundhog day comes, as he wakes up next to her; the cycle has been broken. (They decide to stay. They live happily ever after...)
I will spare you the religious ramifications. But, clearly, this movie illustrates what we may call "existentialism" in a more GRATIFYING manner than any Woody Allen movie you will find out there. What is most amazing about "Groundhog Day" is how both lightly, even unassumingly, and yet impeccably it treats such a sophisticated subject. It even manages to put it to the service of romance, without cynicism. Its narrative progression will seem very "logical" to those familiar with the philosophical theme. And yet the movie never seems to take itself too seriously. It is pretty ordinary by a number of criteria (no odd narrative devices), and at times really touching. Bill Murray is effortlessly convincing, as usual: he always looks his old natural self when he is funny, and manages to look ill when his character is supposed to be frustrated, or oblivious when his character is supposed to have become resigned.
Of course, you can always find some imperfection with some aspect of the movie. But all in all, it accomplishes what very few movies accomplish: it manages to be, at the same time, effortlessly funny, unpretentiously smart, and surprisingly deep and touching. A very unique story, to be sure.
Description of Groundhog Day (Special 15th Anniversary Edition)
Bill Murray is at his wry, wisecracking best in this riotous romantic comedy about a weatherman caught in a personal time warp on the worst day of his life. Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer (Andie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman (Chris Elliott), TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney , Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. But on his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in small-town hell. Just when things couldn't get worse, they get worse; Phil wakes the next morning to find it's Groundhog Day all over again... and again... and again. Groundhog Day was cheered by critics as Bill Murray's best movie ever.Bill Murray does warmth in his most consistently effective post-Stripes comedy, a romantic fantasy about a wacky weatherman forced to relive one strange day over and over again, until he gets it right. Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to watch the famous groundhog encounter his shadow, Murray falls into a time warp that is never explained but pays off so richly that it doesn't need to be. The elaborate loop-the-loop plot structure cooked up by screenwriter Danny Rubin is crystal-clear every step of the way, but it's Murray's world-class reactive timing that makes the jokes explode, and we end up looking forward to each new variation. He squeezes all the available juice out of every scene. Without forcing the issue, he makes us understand why this fly-away personality responds so intensely to the radiant sanity of the TV producer played by Andie MacDowell. The blissfully clueless Chris Elliott (Cabin Boy) is Murray's nudnik cameraman. --David Chute
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