Days Without End

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2009)

I don't have the best track record when it comes to catching new releases especially if they emanate from Hollywood or England and get weighed down with hype; in some cases I succumb and catch something that is good at the moment you watch it but possibly won't stand up to repeated viewings, stuff like Lost In Translation, for example, another Bill Murray vehicle. So it's taken me something like thirteen years to get around to Groundhog Day and on balance it was worth the weight. It's a classic example of shadow over substance - in this case the shadow of the groundhog that will theoretically determine the end of winter and start of spring - one of those where the performances and feelgood factor triumph over sloppy plotting - like WHY, out of nowhere does someONE or someTHING single out Bill Murray and tap him as a modern day Flying Dutchman doomed to live the same day over and over and equally pertinent WHY is he finally released. These plot holes remain unaddressed and remain in the middle of the script waiting for the cast to fall in. Having said that the acting is great as is the feelgood factor.