Krishna
This is a cult classic. It came out in 1993, wow, more than 20 years ago now. Seeing it again today gives you a different set of emotions after all these years. It was a great comedy when it came and with the world having moved on, even today it resonates to some extent. Nicely done, it still is interesting. But definitely appears old fashioned in both the scenes and the dialogs.
In addition, you realize that The Edge of Tomorrow, which came out but two years ago, cleverly reuses the same kind of ploy but this time in a science fiction setting. Interesting!
Now the movie stars with Phil Connors (one of Bill Murray’s most famous roles), a TV commentator, going with his crew, consisting of Rita (played by Andie McDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot, who played in Everybody Loves Raymond much later). He is supposed to be self-centred and cynical but comes across as childish and whiny. He is so bored that he is asked to go cover the Groundhog Willie in Punxutawny in Pennsylvania. He wants to get it done and gone and there is a storm that is predicted to strike the city, which he confidently predicts will miss the town.
Everything goes according to the plan except that the storm does hit the town and they are forced to stay there for the night. Everything goes haywire from then on. He wakes up the next day to find that he is reliving the previous day – literally. It is Groundhog Day again and everything gets repeated. He is first incredulous, then astonished and finally, goes plumb crazy – desperate to get on with his life.
How he comes to realize that each moment is precious and how he should learn to enjoy life as every moment unfolds is the rest of the story.
The story has interesting moments, as you watch Phil slowly transforms from a self-centred (or whiny, depending on your point of view) person to a nice man who does nice things for others.
Well, lot of holes to pick. The story is riddled like Swiss cheese. He seems to become something of a superstar, helping the entire town in one day – and every day. He uses the infinite time to learn many things that he did not know (ice sculptures, piano, just to name two). He also wins the heart of Rita, the requisite twist in a romantic comedy like this – to justify the ‘romantic’ tag.
He also experiments with suicide multiple ways and also with crime and goes to jail.
The holes? First, who made this happen? Who decided that he should relive the day over and over again? It is never explained. There is a mysterious barkeeper who seems to knowingly look at him at several points but is that enough? If so, who is the bar tender?
Second, though Phil knows that whatever he does, he will wake up at 6 AM the next day the same way he does every repeating day, I am sure that he feels all the pains during the day. So killing himself repeatedly every day does not make any sense. Committing suicide is painful even when you know that you will never have to do it again but knowing that it is futile? Come on.
I on the other hand, like the way how the day is subtly different – even though largely repetitive – based on what he does. He helps people with flat tire for instance.
Bill Murray does a fairly decent job in the movie, but Andie just exists to provide romantic interest. Even Bill is no Tom Hanks, sometimes his heavy emotional depictions fall a bit flat.
The story is unusual and interesting. It is light, does not take itself seriously, and has several enjoyable scenes where Phil surprises strangers with facts he learnt about them the previous day.
It is still worth watching, and still gets a 6/10
– – Krishna