"Groundhog Day" is filled with humor, but I consider this Bill Murray's serious movie. Along with Andie McDowell they make great chemistry. "Phil" is the wise-cracking weatherman who thinks he is too good for everyone else. He is in PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa to do a newscast, and wishes he were just about anywhere else. They get snowed in, have to spend the night, and the next morning at 6AM the fun begins.
It is groundhog day again! He goes out, sees all the same people, doing and saying all the same things. To everyone else, this is the only time they have lived this particular day. But for Phil, it is the second time. In fact, every morning thereafter he awakes at 6AM to exactly the same music, the same day, it looks like it will be for eternity.
Update, Feb, 2, 2024 - I decided some years ago to make re-watching this movie one yearly, on Groundhog's Day and each time still seeing something I had missed in all prior viewings.
CAUTION--SPOILERS--
At first, Phil takes the "repeat" days to deal in funny, or cruel, ways with others he knows he will meet. He knows everything will be wiped clean and he can start fresh the next day. No one but he will remember what happened the prior day. After a while, he gets depressed at the thought of being sentenced to an eternity of living the same day, so he tries to kill himself in a variety of ways. He succeeds each time, however when 6AM comes the next day, he's back in his bed, Groundhog Day again, and his daily cycle starts again. And eventually he decides to go ahead and try to make good use of his situation.
So he takes on new hobbies. He becomes expert at ice sculpture, medicine, piano-playing, poetry, and a number of others. He comes to know all the people in town, not only their names but also intimate details of their lives. The film never hints at how many times he re-lives the same day. However, to gain all the proficiencies he did, it must have been several hundred. Perhaps even in the thousands. The original script had it be thousands of years. But that detail doesn't really matter.
As he becomes more and more charming, he decides to try and seduce his producer, played by McDowell. Each day he gets a bit farther, only to show off as the real jerk that he is, then is slapped and snubbed. But each day, since he is the only one who remembers, he gets a bit further. However, he is destined to never get the girl, unless he really changes, and he doesn't realize this.
In the last 1/4 of the film, he has become a truly changed man. He helps people because it is the right thing to do. He is humble about his successes, and it is this change that ultimately attracts the woman of his dreams, and which gets him out of the seemingly endless cycle of re-playing Groundhog Day.
And that, in a nutshell, is what the film is all about. In a unique way - the re-play of a day - it is a commentary on the need to be true and pure in our intentions to be able to get out of our rut and make any meaningful contribution to this world. I rate it "10", and is one of my favorite movies of all time.
It is groundhog day again! He goes out, sees all the same people, doing and saying all the same things. To everyone else, this is the only time they have lived this particular day. But for Phil, it is the second time. In fact, every morning thereafter he awakes at 6AM to exactly the same music, the same day, it looks like it will be for eternity.
Update, Feb, 2, 2024 - I decided some years ago to make re-watching this movie one yearly, on Groundhog's Day and each time still seeing something I had missed in all prior viewings.
CAUTION--SPOILERS--
At first, Phil takes the "repeat" days to deal in funny, or cruel, ways with others he knows he will meet. He knows everything will be wiped clean and he can start fresh the next day. No one but he will remember what happened the prior day. After a while, he gets depressed at the thought of being sentenced to an eternity of living the same day, so he tries to kill himself in a variety of ways. He succeeds each time, however when 6AM comes the next day, he's back in his bed, Groundhog Day again, and his daily cycle starts again. And eventually he decides to go ahead and try to make good use of his situation.
So he takes on new hobbies. He becomes expert at ice sculpture, medicine, piano-playing, poetry, and a number of others. He comes to know all the people in town, not only their names but also intimate details of their lives. The film never hints at how many times he re-lives the same day. However, to gain all the proficiencies he did, it must have been several hundred. Perhaps even in the thousands. The original script had it be thousands of years. But that detail doesn't really matter.
As he becomes more and more charming, he decides to try and seduce his producer, played by McDowell. Each day he gets a bit farther, only to show off as the real jerk that he is, then is slapped and snubbed. But each day, since he is the only one who remembers, he gets a bit further. However, he is destined to never get the girl, unless he really changes, and he doesn't realize this.
In the last 1/4 of the film, he has become a truly changed man. He helps people because it is the right thing to do. He is humble about his successes, and it is this change that ultimately attracts the woman of his dreams, and which gets him out of the seemingly endless cycle of re-playing Groundhog Day.
And that, in a nutshell, is what the film is all about. In a unique way - the re-play of a day - it is a commentary on the need to be true and pure in our intentions to be able to get out of our rut and make any meaningful contribution to this world. I rate it "10", and is one of my favorite movies of all time.