Groundhog Day

As everyone knows, February 2 is Groundhog Day. This is the day when Phil, the groundhog, comes out in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If he sees his shadow, then we have six more weeks left of winter. I'm pretty sure that everyone knows this, but Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin did the screenplay to the 1993 classic, inspirational film, "Groundhog Day," which is another one of my favorites. This film is about a weatherman, Phil, played by Bill Murray, who every year is sent over to Punxsutawney to report on the festivities. This is a fact along with a number of others that do not escape Phil, as he triggers his cynicism about this event, that he does not like at all. Bill Murray is actually really great in this film. He doesn't raise his voice or do anything else to show that he is a jerk, he just is one.

Along this project, he is joined by producer, Rita, played by Andie MacDowell, and cameraman, Larry, played by Chris Elliott. Rita is just a sweetheart and Larry is a great friend, and those two seem to put up with Phil every day that he has been on the news crew. Even though Phil does get on their nerves for putting them down on everything, they still are good partners and deal with his stuck up attitude every day.

Phil is about to go on a wild ride in this film. He re-lives the same day every day, and at first doesn't seem to know why. A reasonable reaction, I would feel the same way, as would anyone else, as to why I am re-living the same day over and over again. His alarm clock wakes him up every day at 6AM to the famous song by Sonny and Cher, "I Got You Babe." At first he starts to abuse it by seducing women, stealing money, eating a lot of unhealthy foods, smoking, driving recklessly, and getting thrown in jail. It's also funny to note that he throws his alarm clock over onto the floor, smashes it repeatedly with his fist, then picks it up and slams it onto the floor. He is tortured and wants to get out of this, which might want to question viewers: Could this be Satan's home? It is for him. Or could this be purgatory? It drives him mental, that he takes the groundhog and drives off of a cliff, exploding, but wakes up the next day just fine. How do you explain that? Then, he electrocutes himself in the bathtub with a toaster, jumps off of a building, gets run over by a car, but to no avail. He then thinks that he is a God because of all of this, and he eventually learns the town's secrets.

In some torturous sense, tomorrow will never come. Groundhog Day will constantly repeat, possibly until the end of time, and Phil will forever be criticized to cover it. He’s trapped in some kind of time warp.

As Phil figures out the convention of his problem, so do we.

His world has the same people in it every day, but they don’t know that Groundhog Day is repeating itself. He is the only one who can remember what happened yesterday. That gives him a certain advantage. Like, he can discover what a woman is looking for in a man, and the “next” day he can act the exact way to impress her.

However, he eventually learns to be a nicer guy and has a change of heart. Phil learns that he needs to see himself in order to change, and he also sees Rita and falls in love with her. With all of this, Phil wants to become a better man by helping people out. When he helps out an old, poor man, but realizes that he can't save him from dying, it's heartbreaking to see that because we see that Phil wants to help everyone out. He then continues by learning to play piano, saving a man from almost choking on steak, saving a kid from almost falling off a tree, helping some old ladies out by changing their flat tire, even giving a newlywed Wrestlemania tickets. He also learns to sculpt Rita in ice, and learns French since Rita loves French poetry.

As the days go on, Phil will eventually see the errors of his way and will eventually change his behavior until, to his relief; there will be no more Groundhog Day. However, he must come to realize that so that he can finally win her over because he does eventually find out that he does have feelings for Rita and does everything he can so that she can have the mutual feelings about him as well.

End result: it's one of those films that tell its viewers a lesson that it's never too late to change yourself. In order to be a better person for everyone, you need to change yourself to be a better person. You should do that before you have passed on in life and you reflect back and think that you should have changed yourself when you had the chance. However, it can never happen where you live the same day over and over and over again, but if it did, then you know that you need to change yourself. Also, you can look at it this way: what if there was no tomorrow? What if tomorrow you wake up and you see that you have died? If you want to be remembered in a good way, then change yourself so that you can be remembered as a good person for those that will always remember you.

The movie is pretty much a comedy, but there’s a fundamental self-motivation that is a little more thoughtful. Like “Scrooged,” Murray’s 1988 holiday film, this is a movie about a grumpy person who is in the process of self-recovery: A supernatural force that shows him his weaknesses.

Another movie that comes to mind is “It’s A Wonderful Life,” although that film showed James Stewart how bad life would have been if he didn’t exist, and this one shows Murray that people might actually have been happier without his role.

“Groundhog Day” was directed and cowritten by Harold Ramis, Murray’s friend from “Ghostbusters” and a partner from their time in Second City. The film is lovable and sweet. I agree with Roger Ebert when he says, “If "Scrooged" seemed to reflect a dour discontent, this one is more optimistic about the human race, and the Murray character is likable by the end. That's a mixed blessing, since Murray is funnier in the early scenes in which he is delivering sardonic weather reports and bitterly cursing the fate that brought him to Punxsutawney in the first place.”

Ebert is right when he said, “Formula comedies are a dime a dozen.” Those based on an original idea is rare, and “Groundhog Day,” aside from everything else, is a demonstration of the way time can sometimes give us a break. Just because we’re born as jerks doesn’t mean we have to live that way for our whole lives.

Well, hope you enjoyed this post. As it is tradition to view the Groundhog and see if we get six more weeks left of winter (which is what traditionally happens) make it a tradition to watch this film every year on Groundhog Day. Stay tuned next week for my second Black History Month film review.