Reel Look: 'Groundhog Day'

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2015)

"Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today." Bill Murray gives probably his best and warm-hearted performances of his career in this 1993 American fantasy comedy as a grumpy weatherman caught in a time loop where everyday is the titular holiday. But will the misanthropic meteorologist eventually discover redemption through caring about the people around him during this monotonous sojourn? Let's take a look.
Murray plays the wry, wisecracking weatherman Phil Connors of whom, begrudgingly, goes to the small friendly district of Punxsutawney, PA to attend/report the yearly Groundhog Day festivities. Traveling with him is news producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and smart-aleck cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) to capture the event with him. On the road back to Pittsburgh, a blizzard shuts down all road travel, and the team is forced to return to Punxsutawney and stay another night.
Upon awakening the next morning, he discovers that he is reliving February 2 all over again, the day playing out exactly as it had done before on the worst day of his life, with no one but Phil aware of the loop. At first he is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues on subsequent days (isn't Sonny and Cher's 'I Got You Babe' on the clock radio alarm a bit ironic?), he decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear or regrets of long-term consequences. He seduces women, drives recklessly, indulges in hedonism, is constantly confronted by annoying insurance salesman Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) and commits numerous acts of suicide. But Phil gets his own mental wake-up call when it eventually hits him that the only way out is to re-examine his own life and to explore on his own sojourn the positive outlook of living with a purpose and to become less of a self-centered individual and to become more of a caring person, eventually winning the heart of Rita and the respect of the locals as well...despite having Phil discover this over and over (and over) again to hilarious effect. After all was said and done, Phil "awoke" from his slumber of egocentricity to a new redemption and another shot at living anew.
Written and directed by by Harold Ramis (with a cameo as a neurologist) and Danny Rubin, 'Groundhog Day' remained truly one of the top comedies of the 90's and still, twenty plus years later, manages to make us laugh, allows us to think and, rather than going through the daily motions like a broken record, to live with a sense of purpose while having others in mind for the long run as well. Fresh, original and often times hysterical, please take the time to partake in the festivities with the celebratory plucky prognosticator marmot, the world-famous hirsute weatherman...critter...by checking out this funny and farcical flick where comedy is rarely this perfect. And there's six more weeks of winter. Just saying.