Subject: REVIEW: GROUNDHOG DAY

From: [email-masked] (MILLER, JIMMY A.)
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 21:43:41 GMT

[Followups directed to rec.arts.movies.]

				  GROUNDHOG DAY
		       A film review by Jimmy A. Miller
			Copyright 1993 Jimmy A. Miller

Starring Bill Murray
	 Andie Macdowell
	 Chris Elliot
Director Harold Ramis

     Basic premise:  Murray is a weatherman who is a less-than-wonderful
human being.  He, Macdowell and Elliot travel to Punxatawney, PA, for
the annual Groundhog Day celebration.  They are unable to leave because
of a blizzard, and Murray awakes the next morning only to discover that
it's *not* the next morning, but Groundhog Day all over again, with the
people around him going through almost the exact same motions they went
through before, seemingly unaware of what has happened to him.

     As Phil continues to relive Groundhog Day, he learns to use his
foreknowledge to his own advantage, allowing him to seduce women, rob
banks, and generally have a good time, without having to worry about the
consequences of his actions.  Gradually this palls on Phil, and he
begins working on Andie Macdowell's Rita.  Rita is most of the things
Phil is not: gentle, kind, and still with playful outlook on life.  Phil
begins a painstaking effort to seduce her, but fails.  

     At this point Phil begins to despair and attempt to kill himself,
only to awaken after each attempt at 6:00 AM, February 2, to the strains
of "I Got You Babe."  Here the film slows down for a moment to really
let us begin to feel Phil's plight, and Murray does an amazing job as a
man who begins to wonder the point of it all, and then seeks to use his
bizarre opportunity to become a better person.

     This is a wonderful charmer of a movie.  It is not Bill Murray
comedy in the tradition of STRIPES or GHOSTBUSTERS, despite its
decidedly off-kilter premise.  Murray's Phil is a variation on the
typical character we have come to associate with him, the wisecracker
who seems to know just a bit more than everyone else, but this time he's
a wisecracker gone sour, though not so over the top evil as we saw him
in SCROOGED.  At first his irritability seems a bit forced, but this
passes soon enough, and Murray delivers wonderfully.

     MacDowell does fine as Rita, making a believable character out of
her even though we only get to see parts of the whole person.  She
creates the gentle soul both we and Murray somehow come to realize holds
the key to his escape.

     I did think Chris Elliot was somewhat wasted as the cameraman.  He
just didn't have much to do, and I think almost anyone could have played
the part.  But this is a minor quibble.  All the supporting cast was
fun, the nerdy insurance salesman in particular.

     But this movie belongs to Murray, who is able to really utilize his
comic skills and keep things from becoming sappy.  The relationship
between he and Macdowell is credible, and Murray's slow transformation
from self-centered jerk is well done.  

     The direction and pacing are excellent.  Given the premise, there
is a tremendous danger of over-repetition, but this is avoided.  We
see only enough to reset the scene, and it is exploited for its comic
and dramatic purposes brilliantly.  Minor characters move in and out of
the action in a believable fashion, helping maintain the sense that
we're in a small town, enhancing the familiarity Phil must feel as he
moves about a place where he eventually knows *to the minute* when
things are going to happen.

     GROUNDHOG DAY is a romantic comedy with, I think, something to say
about people as well.  It is intelligent, charming, and well worth the
full price.  Go see it, again and again and again.

semper fi,

Jammer Jim Miller