7 stages of grief

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2007)

I just watched the movie for the umpteenth time. It never fails to make me laugh, it never fails to move me as a story, it never fails to impress me as a movie.
I haven't read all 397 comments (I do have a life), but in the first couple of pages I noticed nobody spoke of the 7 stages of grief/dying. The screenplay uses this as a plot device. The next time you watch the film (I know you will), check out Murray's character as he goes through 1)Shock/disbelief, 2)Denial, 3)Bargaining, 4)Guilt, 5)Anger, 6)Depression and, finally, 7)Acceptance. Only when he reaches acceptance and becomes the beloved Phil known to the whole town, who loves Rita unconditionally with neither an agenda nor a timetable, do the fates release him to live in the present.
The screenplay is positively rife with beautifully understated lines that crack me up. Many commentors have included their favorites. Mine is the bowling alley scene in which the guy responds to Murray and says, "That about sums it up." There's a long list of continuity goofs, but there's never been a movie in which they are more inconsequential. It's the massive continuity that does work that's the story here.
Easily on my personal Top Ten list.