The last in a line of collaborations between actor Bill Murray and film writer and director Harold Ramis, Groundhog Day (1993) offers a sweetly comedic romantic comedy of a cynical television weatherman stuck in a repeating loop of a single day experienced over and over again for what seems like forever. The further kicker is that day is Groundhog Day, a holiday in Canada and the United States, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
At the midpoint of winter, a celebration of that midpoint is celebrated in the rural town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to celebrate that cold weather, diminished daylight and sometimes cloudy days will give way to spring. Phil Connors, weatherman that misses the prediction of an impending snowstorm in this town the day before, visits the town where tradition has it that the town’s groundhog (or woodchuck) can predict if spring will come early. Traveling to Punnxsutawney from Pittsburgh with Phil are producer Rita Hanson, portrayed by Andie MacDowell, and cameraman Larry, as portrayed by Chris Elliott.
The beginning concept of the movie Groundhog Day began with Danny Rubin‘s script of Phil Connors inexplicably living the same day over and over again. Harold Ramis spirited the movie in a more straightforward comedy with less of a philosophical, moody bent than perhaps lead actor Bill Murray preferred, at least at the time. What wasn’t at first apparent within the movie was that, with the repetition of the same day over and over again, what Connors would actually experience.
The repetition of the same day offers Phil several interactions with the locals in Punnxsutawney, from old schoolmate Ned Ryerson, as portrayed by Stephen Tobolowsky, to Nancy Taylor, as portrayed by Marita Geraghty, to innkeeper Mrs. Lancaster, as portrayed by Angela Paton. With humor there and with the scene including Gus and Ralph, the movie really hits some marks on setting a comedic tone. Rick Ducommun portrayed Gus as Rick Overton portrayed Ralph. The scenes with the older man and begger, as portrayed Les Podewell, show some of the more tender and philosophical side of the movie and keeping a tone of the comedic.
As the movie continues, we do come to learn that Groundhog Day in fact is a comedy with a romantic soul that matches a man finding his humanity through his heart. The cynicism melts into a marriage of a sense of the philosophical wedded to finding true love in focusing on more than oneself while feeling the tedium and heartaches of disappointment along the way. That there’s a pinch of orneriness to boot gives the movie charm. My rating for Groundhog Day as directed by Harold Ramis is 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars.
Matt – Saturday, January 30, 2021
Matt Lynn Digital 