My Review of "Groundhog Day"

Re-watching movies from the past is kind of a gamble for me. I risk the chance of ruining a classic for myself. I did this with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I used to love that movie but watching it today I realize it's not quite the movie I remembered it to be.

I get a little of that in Groundhog Day. In this movie Bill Murray plays Phil, the main character. He's an unlikable egotistical weather reporter set to make a report about, you guessed it, groundhog day. He obviously doesn't want to do it and thinks he's set for bigger and better things. Still he has to make a buck so he goes to a small town to film it.

Little did they know a huge blizzard keeps the news team from leaving the small town. He spends the night and when he wakes up he finds out he's reliving groundhog day over and over and over again.

I really like the fact that Phil goes through a rush of emotions when going through the day over and over again. I could see how a person could go through the things that Phil did. At first he took advantage of his situation. Then he realized he couldn't take advantage of something that he really wanted and became depressed. He even commits suicide multiple times. He then realizes that he has to make the best of the situation so that he can enjoy his days in his repetitive hellhole.

I think some of the banter that Phil has with his producer Rita, played by Andie MacDowell is a bit dated. I remember that they used to talk like this in the 90's but people today may cringe at the way he treats Rita and the rest of the characters in this movie. Still we see a metamorphosis of his character throughout this movie and that's really what this movie is about. We want to see Phil become a better person.

I remember some of the comedic scenes and still found some of it funny but there were times when I was thinking, "oh no, am I changing my opinion on this movie?" In a way yes and no. There are classic moments in this movie about how he memorizes patterns and the people to make it seem like he's this omnipotent person that's all knowing. The notion where he claims to be a god is quite funny.

Still there are certain things of the movie that kind of fell flat that I didn't think would fall flat. The introduction or set up for the movie was quite long. I don't know if it was the fact that I already know what's happening and just want to get it over with so they can get to the fun parts but the beginning is a bit on the boring side because they really emphasize on how horrible a person Phil really is. I guess it's necessary as we get a really good payoff by the end of the movie.

This movie is basically a romantic comedy. It follows all of the basic formula of boy meets girl he gains her trust and then something inexplicably happens for them to split only for her to come back to him. It's a simple formula but it still works in this movie.

Overall, I still liked this movie. I didn't quite like it as much as I thought I would after this viewing so I unfortunately have to give this movie a bit of a lower score than I had anticipated. I will have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's still very much enjoyable but it's not quite the classic that I remembered back in the day. It's a real shame too because I was hoping I would fall nostalgically for this film.