The film that defies its genre

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2009)

Up until now Groundhog Day was one of the few films in IMDb's top 250 that i hadn't had the pleasure of watching, mainly due to the fact that it is often perceived to belong in the Rom-com genre. As this genre in my view produces some of the most torrid films i have ever seen i decided to leave the film for a very long time.
On viewing the film i would first like to say that it doesn't belong in the Rom-com genre. Yes it has Romance and yes it is the the driving force behind the film's conclusion, but for the most part the film's narrative doesn't concentrate on this romance. Instead this is a film about how Phil(Bill Murray), and i hate to be clichéd, discovers himself. This is why i would be inclined to call Groundhog day a comedy.
On to the review. Honestly when i look at comedy films i don't take into account it's 'artistic' merit, e.g. the direction or cinematography. Instead i find that when watching comedy films the plot and jokes should be the main focus.
Groudhog Day's success mainly comes down to two factors, the first is it's plot. Being a completely inspired idea it would have been very hard to make a film that wasn't funny. The execution however was perfect which managed to harvest every bit of humour it could from the situation Phil is put into.
The second reason for the success of the film can be put down to the brilliance of the acting, in particular in reference to Bill Murray, who is on better form than ever (and that is a high standard). Thanks to Murray i found myself connecting to the character like never before in a comedy, adding to the effect of the humour.
Overall Grounhog day is an almost perfect film which fractionally misses out on the title of best comedy ever.
9/10