A human being is the only living species that's aware of its own mortality,
which doesn't make it easy having to live everyday not knowing what tomorrow
will bring. It's this unpredictability about death, relationships, life in
general and the potential harm from the world around us that has spawned
men's (and women's) belief in an afterlife of some sort via religion, myth,
faith, superstition, horoscopes, etc. "Groundhog Day" achieves a rare
triumph in making a very deep and powerful statement about man's mortality
out of what is, in essence, a religion-free comedy vehicle for Bill Murray's
self-aware jerk personality. Equals parts comedy, romance and sci-fi
thriller without a final resolution (like most episodes of TV's "Twilight
Zone"), "Groundhog Day's" charm works as well in 2002 as it did back in 1993.
It's as sweet and laid back as much as Murray's 1988 comedy "Scrooged" is
sour and over-the-top nasty, even though both movies share similar storylines
about learning to become one with the world around by learning to love
ourselves... yuck! :-)
The story centers around Phil Connors (Murray), a self-centered and
egotistical weatherman for Pittsburgh's WPBH-Ch.9 local newscast that dreams
of bigger and better things than having to cover the annual February 2nd
Groundhog Day celebration at the little Pennsylvannia town of Punxsutawney.
Phil's perpetually poe'd at everyone and everything around him, including his
tolerant producer Rita (a radiant Andie MacDowell) and cameraman (Chris
Elliott). When a winter storm forces the trio to stay in Punxsutawney an
additional night, something inexplicable happens to Phil: he wakes up at
6:00AM of Feb. 2nd with the exact same song playing on the radio (Sonny &
Cher's 'I Got You Baby') and the exact same events, people and accidents that
took place the day before, which was also Feb. 2nd. The same thing keeps
happening over and over again, everyday, for what seems like an eternity.
Phil Connors is the only person that's aware that the previous day was the
same as the current one, while the rest of the Punxsutawney residents and
Phil's crew are unaware of this strange time warp.
It's a very simple premise, and screenwriter Danny Rubin and director Harold
Ramis exploit brilliantly the cast's willingness to become straight-faced
stooges to Murray's mood swings while he's trapped in this peculiar
predicament. MacDowell makes a convincing and believable sophisticated woman
that could gradually become the object of Murray's affection, Elliott does as
much as he can with what little is thrown his way, and Stephen Tobolowsky
excels as the annoying Punxsutawney insurance salesman Ned Ryerson. The
other Punxsutawney residents also have their own predictable but likable
small town peculiarities, but make no mistake about it: this is Bill Murray's
movie through and through. He is one of the few comedy stars that can get
away with being nasty one moment and lovable the next, since the audience's
familiarity with his schtick is such that everyone knows at the end of the
day the character he's playing will come around to being a lovable fool that
has learned from his experiences (over and over and...).
Murray is also capable of carrying on his shoulders the wild mood swings that
the Phil Connors character goes through in his never-ending Feb. 2nd
adventures. One day (which is the same day as before) Phil will be stealing
armored vehicles and picking up beautiful women that he befriended by
pretending to be old High School buddies (using knowledge acquired from the
days before), and the next (the same?) he will be throwing himself in front
of a truck or driving into an incoming train to try to put an end to his time
warp. It doesn't matter, since everything will come to be the same way it
was the day before once the alarm clock hits 6:00AM the following (the same?)
morning. While other filmmakers might have gone for cheap laughs by making
cruel or sadist murder/sex jokes, Murray and director Ramis keep the
proceedings light-hearted and consistently forcing the viewer to role-play in
their minds what would they do if they suddenly themselves in Murray's shoes.
That's half the fun of this 'PG' romantic comedy, which also happens to be
to MacDowell's best movie role of the 1990's.
The Disc:
Aside from a handful of little grain spots and some dots on the screen at
awkward and infrequent intervals, "Groundhog Day's" picture looks pretty damn
good but isn't exactly overwhelming in the visual quality department. Harold
Ramis is only a few notches above director John Landis in the lack of visual
creativity department, and most of the shots in this '93 flick are framed
without much 'artsy' creativity. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to see the
movie in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1:85:1, and the images are
pleasant and colorful-enough to show little or no edge enhancements or
compression artifacts throughout its 101 min. length. It's just that, like
the simplicity of the story itself, "Groundhog Day" isn't meant to be DVD
quality reference material as much as a nice presentation of a very simple
comedic story that doesn't push many action or visual movie-making tricks.
On the audio and subtitle front though, "Groundhog Day" excels beyond most
people's demands by offering two killer English audio presentations: Dolby
5.1 Surround and DTS 5.1 tracks. Each offers a superior and much-improved
quality audio experience than what was being offered before, with the DTS
track obviously having a depth and 'warmth' that keeps it a snail's walk
ahead of the Dolby 5.1 track. It's unusual for a 'PG' comedy without much
action and lots of dialogue to offer two quality soundtracks that give its
few exciting scenes a little more 'oomph' (like chapters 12 and 19, in which
Murray's character goes nuts and drives vehicles all over town), but both
tracks also benefit from increased fidelity during incidental sounds and the
movie's few music notes from George Fenton's score. This Special Edition of
"Groundhog Day" also offers a French Surround track and two Mono tracks in
Portuguese and Spanish; there are also subtitles offered in English, French,
Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese and Thai.
Now come the special features, which aren't numerous but are decent-enough to
put into perspective what it was like to create "Groundhog Day's" little time
warp. An exclusive DVD documentary called 'The Weight of Time' (24:41) mixes
scenes from the movie, outtakes, behind-the-scenes b&w photographs and
interviews with director Ramis, producer Trevor Albert, screenwriter Danny
Rubin, actress Andie MacDowell and Mr. Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned? Ned Ryerson
his own self?!?!) recalling stories and anecdotes about what it was like to
work on the film. It's a little on the self-promotional side, and the
absence of Chris Elliott and Bill Murray's perspectives about the production
leave quite a hole in the documentary's impact. But a few nuggets of info
shine in 'The Weight of Time', particularly screenwriter Rubin's complaint of
how his original script idea of starting the movie right in the middle of the
story was ditched during pre-production by Ramis when the latter had promised
the former that the gimmick wouldn't be tampered with.
The documentary is worth seeing AFTER the movie, since the spoilers will kill
any of the few surprises in the predictably-sweet story. Also worth checking
is the Feature-length Commentary by Harold Ramis, which doesn't fly as high
as his contribution to "Ghostbusters" but is a very informative and
insightful recitation of facts and anecdotes that are neither too talky or
too quiet. There are also Filmographies for director Ramis, and stars Bill
Murray, Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott, as well as Theatrical Trailers for
"Groundhog Day", "It Could Happen To You" and "Peggy Sue Got Married". Even
though we don't really count them as special features, we have to mention the
cute and very colorful Animated Menus that take the DVD viewer to different
locations of Punxsutawney via an animated map; the Tip Top Diner, for
example, holds all the different audio and subtitle options while the town's
central plaza houses all the Special Features selections. Very, very neat,
but it doesn't make-up for the absence of a deleted scenes or outtakes
section (which the 'Weight of Time' documentary clearly uses to pad its
running time) unless they've been buried as a hidden easter egg of some kind.
Grrrrrr!
bottom line:
Bill Murray's performance in "Groundhog Day" is a quiet tour-de-force, easily
ranking as Murray's best film work alongside "Ghostbusters" and "Caddyshack".
Combined with a clever script (by Danny Rubin), assured direction (by Harold
Ramis), a solid supporting cast and a decent-enough amount of DVD extras to
earn the 'SE' moniker, and it's a no-brainer why we're happy to be stuck
watching this '93 movie in our DVD's over and over again.
By - J.M. Vargas
