Only a few real problems with it

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2007)

Smug,snide,cynical and dripping with more than an ounce of well-trained insincerity,Pittsbugh local Weatherman Phil Conners(Bill Murray,whose performance here SEEMS to be his usual,languid,wise-ass self,but upon further review,is arguable one of his most slyly executed performance of his career!)is NOT looking forward to covering Groundhog Day in nearby Punxatawney(spelling?). He isn't too thrilled with who he's being dispatched to cover it with:a bright new producer(Andie MacDowall)and an unassuming but equally wise-ass cameraman he's worked with before(Chris Elliott). Come the actual event,Phil goes through the motions,then is crestfallen to find out he'll be stuck in Punxatawney THROUGH the day(he was set to leave town that afternoon) and have to spend one more night at a quaint bed-and breakfast where he doesn't fit in.
That would soon prove to be the LEAST of his problems,as he begins to relive the same Feb.2nd ad infinitum.
Murray's performance here is really worth more than a cursory glance:in having to relive the same day over and over and over(and over)again,his Phil is left open to relive it in both generous and selfish ways. As he continually re-crafts the same routines(And tries,in increasingly more grim fashions to escape it),he begins to learn about things and people he absolutely never would,not the least of which his attraction and affinity for his producer.
Director Harold Ramis has been far more cursed with loser material(a remake of Bedazzled,anyone? How about the incomplete idea of Multiplicity?)than good stuff,but here,with Second City and Ghostbusters cohort Murray,he is able to craft a film that,while it seems to be unable to find a way to wrap itself up(and is probably my biggest gripe of this film),is still both cuttingly funny,poignant AND somewhat philospohical in its mien. While I'm not even close to being an Andie McDowall fan(I think this and Short Cuts are the only two films of hers I've thought she was pretty good in),she is a very effectively placed foil. The sub-characters,given the way this film is constructed,are actually asked,in some parts,to CARRY this film more than most movies would allow(including obnoxious INsurance salesman Phil doesn't recall played by Stephen Toblowski,a "Long lost love interest named NAncy,the other B&B guests and patrons)and it has such fun with quick cuts and restructuring the film's series of events that you could argue this is actually about TWENTY or THIRTY movies in one.
Absurd,funny and more than a little off-putting,Groundhog Day is a film that you won't forget soon after viewing it.