One Of Bill Murray's Best

Rating: 8/10 (20 August 2011)

The premise is simple, and yet intriguingly complex at the same time: a man is forced to repeat the same day over and over and over again until he learns the lessons he needs to learn and is able to escape from the cycle.
The man is Bill Murray, playing Phil Connors - a Pittsburgh weatherman sent to Punxsatawney, Pennsylvania on February 2 to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities in that small town. Phil is not a nice guy. He's self-centred and egotistical and selfish. He considers no one's feelings important but his own, and he hates the annual assignment in Punxsatawney. He hates the work, he hates his co-workers, he hates the place, he hates the festivities and he hates the people, and he can't wait to get out. He treats everything and everyone as obstacles in the way of him getting what he wants. But stranded by a blizzard, Phil wakes up the next day only to discover that it's not the next day. It's still February 2 - still Groundhog Day - and he has to do the same things all over. And the cycle keeps repeating - which is a wonderful analogy for his empty and shallow life.
The point of the movie is how repeating the same day gradually changes Phil. At first he sees it as he sees the rest of life - as a chance to manipulate. And so he spends every day learning about people - and particularly about the attractive women in town so that - with him being able to remember and them not - he's able to get whatever he wants by learning their likes and dislikes as a result of perhaps centuries of living the same day (because we're never really told how long the cycle goes on.) Phil develops a particular interest in Rita (Andie McDowell) - his beautiful producer. At first he manipulates her as well, but eventually starts to have feelings for her, and she finally proves to be his escape from the cycle, along with an encounter Phil has with an old homeless man who dies, and whose death on February 2 - which Phil can't prevent no matter how many different ways he tries - seems to touch him very deeply.
Murray did a great job in showing Phil's subtle changes in how he reacts to the situation. Cynical and selfish at first, he's in turns confused, manipulatively happy and opportunistic and then suicidally depressed until he finally realizes that he has to learn to make the best of his situation and he actually starts to value the people around him and the lives they lead. Murray partnered well with McDowell, and the movie itself raises the same questions for the viewer as Phil was being forced to live through - what would you do if you could lead the same day over? Would you fix your mistakes and become a better person or would you use the situation to your own advantage?
This is very funny at times and at times it's equally very dark - and Murray does well with both. It's a thoughtful and thought-provoking movie that's fun to watch. (8/10)