The greatest film comedy of all-time

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2000)

This is not only the greatest comedy of all time but one of the best films ever, in any genre. What makes it so great, besides a stellar performance by Bill Murray (which is, hands down, his best screen work to date) is how perfectly the script has been worked out, down to the tiniest little details. The premise is a solid one - a man is doomed to relive the same day over and over again until he learns how to become a better, less self-centered person. But it could have failed on so many levels: the built-in repetition factor could easily have sunk the film, and a very real danger existed that the situation would simply become as boring and infuriating to the audience as it is to the main character. The filmmakers - director Harold Ramis and his co-writer Danny Rubin, who came up with the original story - find several ingenious ways to ring changes upon the premise, and do a totally convincing job in mapping out the growth and development of the main character.
That character is a cruel and shallow Pittsburgh weatherman named Phil Connors who is disgusted to find himself once again in Punxsatawney Pennsylvania to cover the dreaded (to him) groundhog day festival. By being forced to live the day again and again, amongst people he despises, he will have to come to terms with his own shallowness and lack of human connection. The film, then, is his quest for personal redemption and deliverance. If that sounds heavy to you, well . . . it is, sort of. While the film is clearly a comedy (and is very very funny), it does not hesitate to display the horror and desperation of Phil's predicament. By the end, you FEEL for him, and have come to know him, in a way that just would not be possible if his situation was played only for laughs. If ever a movie wrung every last drop of greatness and potential out of its central premise, it is this one. If nothing else, the script should have been up for an Academy Award; it is - hands down - the best comedy script of the 90s.
Of course, probably the biggest concern is that the audience will enjoy Phil being a crumb much more than they will watching him become a nice guy, which would pretty much undercut the central theme of the movie. This is where Bill Murray's amazing performance comes in to play, since he's equally entertaining as a good-hearted and reformed man as he is as a jaded cynic. This is no mean accomplishment, and it's absolutely essential for the movie's success: if he came across as too nice, then we wouldn't buy the character's initial misanthropy, making the "transformation" a foregone conclusion; equally, if his change into a happier, more well-adjusted person wasn't funny and enjoyable in its own right, then we'd walk away thinking "The movie had a great first hour - then it got boring as he started to change." Either eventuality would have absolutely killed this picture.

Fortunately, Murray - perhaps unique among screen comics - has always been equally adept at working either side of the sweet / sour divide. He can just as easily be lovable as despicable, and get laughs doing both. I can't really think of any other comic actor who can do this (Robin Williams is always relentlessly cheery; Steve Martin is funniest when he's angriest; Jim Carrey couldn't get laughs by being sweet and sincere if his life depended on it, etc.). Therefore, the movie is unthinkable without him. But it is also an absolute gift to him - no other film he has ever done has allowed him to show this much range as an actor while still letting him play to his strengths. Anyone who witnessed him trying to go dramatic in The Razor's Edge, or to bring off a similar grump-turns-into-a-nice-guy premise in the atrocious Scrooged will know exactly what I mean.
To sum up, this is one of the best films ever, and belongs on that short list of works that are truly uplifting and heartwarming - but which EARN it. As "transformation" movies go, it's right up there with the seasonal classics of Scrooge, the Grinch and George Bailey in "It's A Wonderful Life" - all without the benefit of the Christmas season for its backdrop. In fact, one of the best things about Groundhog Day is that it might actually start a new trend - showing this film every year on TV in the wastes of February would be a good idea, when we could all really use a good cheering up!