Director: Harold Ramis
Writer: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis (Screenplay)
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty
Plot: A weatherman finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Bill Murray Machine
Story: Groundhog Day starts as weatherman Phil (Murray) is reluctantly covering the fourth year in a row Groundhog Day where the people of the small town believe if the groundhog appears it marks the start of spring. O his trip Phil is joined by his faithful cameraman Larry (Elliott) and new producer Rita (MacDowell).
When a blizzard keeps Phil in the town for one more night, he finds himself waking up on Groundhog Day once again, confused about what is happening he makes nothing of it at first, but when the day keeps restarting Phil starts to question his own sanity. Phil starts by taking advantage of the situation using each day to get to know Rita better, but just how many times can he go through the same day.
Thoughts on Groundhog Day
Characters/Performance – Phil is the weatherman who wants to do more with his career, he is selfish and doesn’t care about what happened to anybody in his life. He does go through the change in the film as he continues to live the same day getting to know the whole town. Rita is the new love interest who is also career minded, Larry is the cameraman and like most of the rest of the characters are largely forgettable.
Bill Murray is the star of this movie, he has to show his range as an actor while the rest of the cast just must go through the motions of repeating their actions.
Story – The story is good as it shows how one man can repeat one day over again, learning about people who would never take time to get to know. The story shows us just how much the character of Phil could go through he is does go through the same day.
Comedy/Fantasy/Romance – We have good moments of laughter from Bill Murray but not too many full blown laughs, the fantasy side comes from the repeating the same day with the romance coming from Phil trying to get to know Rita.
Settings – The film is mostly set within the small town which makes for a good setting for the big cocky weatherman.
Special Effects – We don’t have many special effects but the ones we do have all work very well for the film.
Final Thoughts – This is considered a classic and I can understand why but for me a lot of this film is just how great Murray can be.
Overall: This is a full-blown Bill Murray vehicle.
Rating
