Weatherman Phil is stuck living the same day over and over again, that day just happens to be Groundhog Day and his total nightmare.
I eventually made the effort to catch up and watch Groundhog Day for the first time, after a lot of people were mentioning it for the 7 Snow films blog post I made over a month ago now. So I took that on board (a lot of people mentioned it) and watched it. Why hadn’t I actually seen this film before? I love Bill Murray for a starter and obviously throughly enjoyed this film from start to finish. His performance is brilliant but it also has plenty of messages in the story as well which makes it even better.
A man keeps waking up and reliving the same day over and over again. To begin with he is just pushed to the edge and cannot cope with the same day. He meets a lot of different people and then soon realises that if he is doomed to live this one day he can then work things in his favour. He uses it to get money, women and without actually realising he falls in love.
It makes you think about what you would do if you had to live the same day over and over again. Would you be able to keep going, would you want unlimited money for the day? Not being scared about being punished for your actions and doing whatever you wanted? Getting to know someone even if they cannot remember talking to you that much?
For Phil it ends up all being about Rita, which actually causes some strange scenes for her. Obviously she cannot remember any of the in-depth conversations and he just comes across creepy at times. He even tries to tell her what is happening over and over again, but that does not sound like it could actually be real. We can all understand that from her point of view, how could that actually be possible?
What will break the spell for Phil and allow him to move on to the next day though? Well that is something that I won’t spoil but it is a very nice ending and you are extremely happy when he eventually gets to that point. Maybe it is hinting at the meaning of life. Sometimes your actions have to be paid for and you cannot treat people however you like, consequences will happen if you are just horrible all of the time.
Murray is probably the best possible actor to take on a role and film like this, he is engaging from start to finish and just brilliant to watch. I have never been a fan of Andie McDowell but a plus is that she did not annoy me in this film and was watchable. I could easily see myself watching this film a few more times in the future, and thank you to everyone who put extra pressure on me to eventually make time to watch this absolute classic 90s film!
