Today is Yesterday Ad Infinitum

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2005)

A fantastic premise done up with comedy and irony: when Phil (Murray) subtly hints at the beginning how repetitive his 4th time (4th year)reporting in that little town for Groundhog Day seems to be, he has no clue as to what's in store - what repetition really is. This is the amusing version of the chilling half-hour version of "12:01" where the poor guy repeats an hour. There was also a more mundane "12:01" TV movie, also with one day being repeated, which was still entertaining. But this has Murray, who besides expectedly delivering all the goods on the funny aspects of the same day premise, has to also convey some of the wistfulness and despair associated with such a dilemma. To the film's credit, the story doesn't hold back on showing the full potential of such a wild concept: Phil relives the same day for years, gaining new talents & disciplines in the process, and running through the whole gamut of emotional arcs as all that special time passes: shock, bewilderment, recklessness, debauchery, suicide (the aforementioned despair), delusions of godhood and finally a kind of serene acceptance of his strange situation - this last can be construed as 'giving in' to the cosmic joke or lesson played on him.
The story has some minor weaknesses: most viewers will notice, for example, after a 2nd viewing, that Phil's music teacher is taking credit for his musical genius at the end even though, for her, only one day of teaching has occurred. Surely, Phil showed her he was very adept at the start of the lesson (unless, he feigned total ignorance of music at the start of the lesson and let her think he so improved after a couple of hours - but this leaps into silliness). There also seems to be a scene missing with respect to Phil's relationship with Rita (MacDowell). I never was clear as to how or why Phil became enamored of her and eventually in love. Of course, he must have been observing her for many days as his day repeated until he came to this realization, but still, this happens suddenly and without any hint of such feelings surfacing prior to his calling her name while making out with another woman. But, overall, the concept was well thought out and well written for this version. As with the better films with such far-out concepts, questions arise afterward - why Phil? Does this happen to other people? To many other people? To everyone at some point? When will it happen to me? It's also a convenient explanation for the deja vu syndrome.