Product Description

Do you ever have deja vu? Didn't you just ask me that? Bill Murray is at his wry, wisecracking bestin this riotous romantic comedy about a weatherman caught in a personal time warp on the worst day of his life. Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer (Andie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman (Chris Elliott), TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania,to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. But on his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in small-town hell. Just when thingscouldn't get worse, they get worse; Phil wakes the next morning to find it's Groundhog Day all overagain... and again... and again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1937 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-01-29
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
• Dubbed in: French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
Bill Murray does warmth in his most consistently effective post-Stripes comedy, a romantic fantasy about a wacky weatherman forced to relive one strange day over and over again, until he gets it right. Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to watch the famous groundhog encounter his shadow, Murray falls into a time warp that is never explained but pays off so richly that it doesn't need to be. The elaborate loop-the-loop plot structure cooked up by screenwriter Danny Rubin is crystal-clear every step of the way, but it's Murray's world-class reactive timing that makes the jokes explode, and we end up looking forward to each new variation. He squeezes all the available juice out of every scene. Without forcing the issue, he makes us understand why this fly-away personality responds so intensely to the radiant sanity of the TV producer played by Andie MacDowell. The blissfully clueless Chris Elliott (Cabin Boy) is Murray's nudnik cameraman. --David Chute

From The New Yorker
An above-average Bill Murray vehicle, directed by Harold Ramis from a script by Ramis and Danny Rubin. The star plays Phil Connors, a burned-out TV weatherman who wakes up one morning to discover that he's stuck in time-condemned to relive, endlessly, Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The picture goes on a little too long, but Murray's inventiveness keeps it lively even during its less inspired stretches. The fundamental, deliberate monotony of the conception actually serves to highlight his skill at comic riffing. The movie feels like a spontaneous one-man jam session, and you sense that Murray can play all night, just for the fun of finding out what else he might come up with. He fools around as if there were no tomorrow. Also with Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, and Stephen Tobolowsky. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite movies.
This movie really grows on you. The first time I saw it, it was okay but the more I thought about the concept and re-watched it, it quickly became one of my favorite movies. Even now, I think about what I'd do if it were "groundhog day"...I love this movie and I really recommend it.

Effortlessly funny, Unpretentiously smart, and Surprisingly deep and touching
This movie is probably not for everyone, although I would recommend that most people try it. I think it takes a certain degree of inclination towards patient "moral" narratives to appreciate it deeply. For instance, those who only watch romantic comedies because they are expecting either gags (such as one could find in, say, "What about Bob") or linear romance with simple ups and downs (perhaps based on the theme of romantic destiny), those will probably not have the patience for it. Other than that, it is very easy to like. But here is why I, for one, loved it:

The movie presents a fairly sophisticated moral tale about time and fate (not destiny). Phil (Murray) starts as a pretentious, unpleasant, irritable, visibly unhappy and "self-absorbed" career guy. As the weatherman (nice touch!), he is obviously consumed by the low-level fame conferred upon him by the TV medium. The kind of self-important guy who always acts like he has somewhere more important to be, but never seems to "arrive" anywhere.

Then one day, due to bad weather, which he failed to predict (!!!), he is stuck in a small town that he despises and could not wait to leave. He entered the town in order to cover an event that he finds eminently absurd: groundhog day. Naturally annoyed, he goes to bed early. But, by a freak occurence of fate, he wakes up the next day to find himself again on groundhog day, unable to leave. And this goes on again and again. The basic point of the story is to show how his character evolves as he is forced to relive the same day again and again.

At first, there is the horror and the insanity, as he becomes aware of his absurd situation: having to live the same stupid day again and again, inexplicably. (The absurd life: a theme made famous by A. Camus.) Then there is the sense of despair. Then there is the realization, with enthusiasm naturally, that if nothing has consequences beyond today, and one can start over tomorrow, then one can get away with anything. (This is a theme made famous by Dostoevski). And he does: he drives recklessly, he cheats for sex, he steals money, he eats without moderation. (Some people call this "active nihilism.") Then there is the delusion of grandeur: he thinks he is a God. But it turns out that the one thing he really wants, he cannot get: that is, to charm his colleague (McDowell), a sucker for poetry who finds him vain. As he begins to find her genuinely interesting, he applies all his new powers to seduce her, refining his approach with new information day after day. But without success. Then, of course, comes the disillusionment. And the bitterness. Then the conviction that all this must end: he attempts suicide in a thousand different ways. Also without success: he keeps on waking up on the morning of groundhog day.

Realizing that he cannot escape his condition (which reminds me of something J.P. Sartre said), he eventually surrenders, and progressively, he begins to accept his fate and develop a deeper interest in his small world. He tries to make himself useful to others. First he becomes obsessed with making an old dying beggar he had always ignored survive. Without success. His day will never be that perfect. But he can still try to make it better. So, he comes to realize that there is an infinity of things he can do to make every day better for everyone, including himself. And this includes refining his aesthetic appreciation and artistic skills: he learns the piano, and ice sculpting. Ironically, while he no longer goes after McDowell's character, he incidentally acquires all the virtues that she would love in a man. So, yes, she falls in love with him. (Reminds me of those eastern philosophies that basically say that you have to know how to let go of your desire for things in order for the desirable things to come to you). They fall asleep side by side: another night after groundhog day, and he is infinitely grateful for it. Finally, precisely when it is no longer expected, something like grace or redemption occurs: the day after groundhog day comes, as he wakes up next to her; the cycle has been broken. (They decide to stay. They live happily ever after...)

I will spare you the religious ramifications. But, clearly, this movie illustrates what we may call "existentialism" in a more GRATIFYING manner than any Woody Allen movie you will find out there. What is most amazing about "Groundhog Day" is how both lightly, even unassumingly, and yet impeccably it treats such a sophisticated subject. It even manages to put it to the service of romance, without cynicism. Its narrative progression will seem very "logical" to those familiar with the philosophical theme. And yet the movie never seems to take itself too seriously. It is pretty ordinary by a number of criteria (no odd narrative devices), and at times really touching. Bill Murray is effortlessly convincing, as usual: he always looks his old natural self when he is funny, and manages to look ill when his character is supposed to be frustrated, or oblivious when his character is supposed to have become resigned.

Of course, you can always find some imperfection with some aspect of the movie. But all in all, it accomplishes what very few movies accomplish: it manages to be, at the same time, effortlessly funny, unpretentiously smart, and surprisingly deep and touching. A very unique story, to be sure.

Solid
an oldie but goodie if you like the "what if" scenario. I like the old "What a Wonderful Life", "Mr. Destiny", etc. theme.