Groundhog Day

"Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today."

Phil Connors (Murray) is a Pittsburgh weatherman.  Ever year he travels to Punxsutawney for the Groundhog's Day celebration.  He hates everything about the trip and town.  After delivering the February 1 weather report, he leaves for Punxsutawney with his cameraman Larry (Elliott) and producer Rita Hanson (MacDowell).  He stays at a bed and breakfast, and begins his February 2 miserable.  The groundhog predicts 6 more weeks of winter and a blizzard hits as they are leaving town, forcing them to return to Punxsutawney for the night.

The next morning when Phil wakes up it is still February 2.  Everything is the same about the day and Phil is the only one that is aware of the repeat.  The next morning is again February 2 and he is still the only person that realizes the day is repeating.  Can Phil break the cycle and get to February 3?


Since this film was released in 1993, it has been a hit.  It has reached iconic status and is considered a comedy classic.  It won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.  It also was recognized by the American Film Institute in the lists: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs, 100 Years...100 Passions, and 10 Top 10 (in the Fantasy Film category).  This film usually appears on top comedy film lists or Murray's filmography and is named as one of Roger Ebert's "Great Movies".

Despite all of the prestige, this was my first time watching the film.  It felt appropriate / timely to watch it today.  It is a hilarious film and worth all of the hype.

Murray is perfect as weatherman Phil Connors.  He gets to play both the jerk and the good guy, and have a ball doing both.  Everything about his performance works here.  Andie MacDowell is the love interest, but she makes him work for it.  The film focuses on Phil, but she gets some good moments as well.  The cast is great and even the small / minor characters get a chance to shine.  The film also features Murray's brother Brian Doyle-Murray as one of the groundhog handlers.

This was Harold Ramis' fourth film as the director.  He also co-wrote the screenplay with Danny Rubin (Rubin wrote the original story) and co-produced the film with Trevor Albert.

In 2003, Stephen Sondheim was interested in adapting the film into a musical.  However, by 2008 he dropped the project.  Ramis announced a year later that Rubin would adapt the film into a musical.  It premiered in at The Old Vic in London in July 2016 and is set to premiere on Broadway in March 2017.  Tim Minchin wrote the music and lyrics for the show.

Groundhog Day (1993) 101 minutes
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring: Bill Murray as Phil Connors
Andie MacDowell as Rita Hanson
Chris Elliott as Larry
Stephen Tobolowsky as Ned Ryerson
Brian Doyle-Murray as Buster Green
Angela Paton as Mrs. Lancaster
Rick Ducommun as Gus
Rick Overton as Ralph