Whereas it was launched 30 years in the past, Groundhog Day stays extremely rewatchable as a consequence of it being an easy comedy with a shocking dose of philosophy. Like Joe Versus the Volcano a couple of years prior, Groundhog Day blends lighthearted humor with extra profound themes about life and love, leading to a kind of uncommon movement photos that resonates on a number of ranges. Fairly frankly, I believe it’s good.
For Murray, Groundhog Day marked the tip of his mainstream comedy run that started with 1979’s Meatballs and featured the likes of Caddyshacok, Stripes, Ghostbusters, and What About Bob? in 1991. From right here on out, Murray would take bit elements in movies like Tim Burton’s Ed Wooden, the Farrelly brothers’ Kingpin, Area Jam, and the darkish comedy/thriller Wild Issues earlier than Wes Anderson and Sophia Coppola revitalized his profession by casting him kind of as himself in dramatic (or darkly humorous) fare with 1998’s Rushmore and 2003’s Misplaced in Translation.
Extra pivotally, Groundhog Day afforded Murray an opportunity to point out off his dramatic chops — one thing he tried with minimal success in The Razor’s Edge and (to a lesser extent) Fast Change. Phil Connors’ metamorphosis from a snarky weatherman to a congenial, compassionate, extraordinarily proficient, high-ranking resident of Punxsutawney stays one of many nice film character transformations.
Why Groundhog Day Is an Enduring Traditional
For many who don’t know, Groundhog Day tells the story of Phil Connors, a stuck-in-the-rut weatherman who heads to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cowl the annual Groundhog Day celebrations. He leads to a time loop that repeatedly forces him to relive February 2. Initially, he views the day as a curse. Ultimately, he embraces the chance to brighten his life with generosity, kindheartedness, and romance.
What’s attention-grabbing about Groundhog Day is the way it initially presents Phil as a curmudgeon, albeit one we rally round. Movies akin to Scrooged gave Murray a mean-spirited asshole vibe with few redemptive qualities. Right here, director Harold Ramis (who co-wrote with Danny Rubin) introduces Phil as a snarky everyman caught in a dead-end job, surrounded by individuals who look down on him. We get the sensation Phil was once a decent man with a lust for all times however by no means amounted to something greater than a deadbeat climate forecaster at a small new station. Hell, even the lowly digital camera man (performed by Chris Elliott) doesn’t respect him; nor does the brand new producer (Andie MacDowell), whose limitless optimism, expertise, and success additional irk an already discontent Phil.
“I believe that you possibly can inform Invoice’s character was actually struggling then,” MacDowell mentioned in a making-of interview. “Despite the fact that he was explosive and imply and cynical and all these issues, you felt sorry for him since you knew he couldn’t be pleased like that.”
Phil notes the variety of occasions he’s coated the groundhog celebration and hopes this yr results in greater and higher issues at bigger networks. A improbable video by Northern Diaries highlights this human drawback of not dwelling within the current day. For Phil, it’s all about what is going to occur tomorrow. He’s so busy worrying concerning the future that he’s not specializing in the current. So when he will get to Punxsutawney, he doesn’t cease to benefit from the individuals, the city, or the second; he needs to go away as quickly as doable.
Sadly, Phil possesses few qualities that might propel him to the celebrity and fortune he covets. In a way, the person was already caught in an limitless cycle of distress, albeit made by his personal hand, with no hope for a brighter future. As such, we really feel a certain quantity of empathy towards him. Ramis rigorously frames Phil as a downtrodden soul who takes his frustrations out on the world fairly than an out-and-out jerk.
For each merciless quip, Phil takes on much more punishment: a shovel smacks him within the head, he humiliates himself in entrance of a patrolman, will get caught in a chilly bathe, sleeps in due to poor service, steps in an icy puddle, and is virtually accosted by an insurance coverage salesman (Stephen Tobolowsky). He’s a mean man whose anger stems largely from on a regular basis life, which many will relate with.
Then, a miracle. Phil awakens the subsequent morning, besides it’s February 2, Groundhog Day, once more. One thing’s amiss.
Phil makes the identical errors as the day before today, wakes up, and finds every little thing reset as soon as extra. Even the pencil he snapped has magically reformed. So, as a result of he has nothing else higher to do, he goes ingesting and, with the assistance of two city drunks, has an epiphany:
Phil spends the second act abusing his energy. He sleeps with random girls, steals cash, eats junk meals, and tries to worm his approach into Rita’s coronary heart. Besides, she’s in a position to see proper via his hole ardour:
Then, like a Grand Theft Auto gamer, after they’ve utilized all of the cheats and shortly grown tired of the sport, Phil unleashes his darker facet, steals a truck carrying the groundhog (additionally named Phil), and drives over a cliff. Sadly, his suicide try proves futile, and he once more wakes as much as Sonny and Cher on February 2. He then goes on a suicide spree and kills himself in quite a lot of distinctive methods:
At this juncture, the person thinks he has nothing to stay for. In Phil’s shallow thoughts, he achieved every little thing he may out of life — girls, booze, intercourse, and limitless viewings of a movie known as Heidi II. It by no means happens to him to do something extra productive till Rita evokes him to do extra along with his infinite existence. She brings out the actual Phil sans all of the bullshit. At one level, he even reads poetry. “Solely God could make a tree,” he recites, displaying a elementary shift in his beliefs.
Astute viewers will recall Phil’s god complicated early within the image. As a weatherman, he believes he “makes the climate.” He tries to avoid wasting a homeless man from sure dying and tells Rita that he’s an precise god. “Not the God, however a god.”
Solely after crumbling in humility can Phil totally rebuild himself bodily, mentally, and emotionally. He reads books, performs the piano, learns how you can ice sculpt, and will get to know the individuals round him extra deeply. He enjoys a strong non secular journey that carries him from a deadbeat cynic to a charismatic savant with a lust for all times.
“It’s not being the hero of the city,” Tobolowsky defined, “it’s about doing what you are able to do within the second to make issues higher as a substitute of creating issues worse. If different individuals interpret that as you being the god of the city, which in a approach he turns into, so be it. However that isn’t his purpose.”
“When he stops worrying about himself on a regular basis and begins dwelling a lifetime of service to others, then his life will get very full and wealthy certainly,” Ramis added.
The movie then switches to Rita’s perspective. We see Phil in a brand new gentle: he’s cherished by all, proficient, bold, delicate, and lively, a far cry from the drunken miscreant we noticed within the opening act.
It’s sufficient to peak Rita’s curiosity, so she buys him at an public sale and spends the night time with him. By all accounts, they don’t have intercourse — Phil merely dozes off, maybe exhausted from the day’s occasions — however their relationship is constructed on a firmer basis because of Phil’s newfound outlook on life. He’s assured, pleased, and confident, not weighed down by the world however energized by the prospect of dwelling. It took years (a long time even), however Phil lastly answered the query posed early within the image: “What would you do when you had been caught in a single place and day by day was precisely the identical and nothing that you just did mattered?”
Phil was already caught dwelling the identical day on repeat however discovered that means in his existence. By the movie’s finish, he possesses an array of skills that can doubtless earn him a greater profession; his perspective has shifted, which is able to afford him extra associates; and his coronary heart has elevated, which prompts a considerable relationship with the girl he loves.
Phil experiences a elementary change that resonates with everybody, as famous by Harold Ramis:
It’s uncommon to discover a image that just about each moviegoer can establish with on a deeper, emotional stage. The philosophical themes concerning the very nature of our existence elevate Groundhog Day above your typical rom-com in order that it turns into a near-religious expertise. Who doesn’t have a look at themselves within the mirror every morning and query the that means behind all of it? Why will we work? Why will we comply with simplistic routines? How will we break the cycle?
Apparently, Phil doesn’t make any radical modifications to his routine. Even within the third act, he wakes up at 6 a.m., goes to work, and performs each day rituals. The distinction is his extracurricular actions revolve round service to others — he helps a trio of older girls with their automotive, saves a child from falling out of a tree, and prevents a person from choking to dying. (Phil’s early scenes at all times body him in isolation, whereas the later phases pair him with others.)
Groundhog Day suggests it’s not essentially about breaking the cycle however fairly doing extra with it — a easy however efficient message. Little surprise the Nationwide Movie Preservation Board chosen that film for preservation within the Library of Congress in 2006.
Surprisingly, Groundhog Day was a minor success. The movie did nicely in comparison with its funds and earned a wholesome $71 million on the home field workplace — good, however a far cry from Murray’s extra well-liked endeavors. I think about audiences shared my sentiments and thought it was little greater than a enjoyable comedy. Even Roger Ebert dismissed it in his earlier evaluation earlier than amending his ideas. “Groundhog Day is a movie that finds its notice and function so exactly that its genius might not be instantly noticeable. It unfolds so inevitably, is so entertaining, so apparently easy, that you need to stand again and slap your self earlier than you see how good it truly is,” the late critic wrote.
Certainly, I didn’t choose up on the movie’s heavier themes till after numerous viewings throughout my household’s weekly Friday film night time. We will need to have watched it a whole lot of occasions throughout my youth. Foolish me.
To this present day, Groundhog Day nonetheless astonishes me. I discover new components I didn’t catch earlier than and proceed to understand its brilliance. Whether or not by design or not, Harold Ramis and Invoice Murray made a deeply profound comedy basic price watching many times and once more…
