I thought that Groundhog Day was a very original film - so if you are looking for originality, this is the one.
As far as humour is concerned, Bill Murray is perfect for the role, being a "prima donna" weatherman who is too in love with himself to see that he is in a "dead end" job going no-where, and everyone hates him.
The Film is, in many ways, like the classical shakesphere idea where the main character suffers the pain of self-realisation before he evolves or develops from bad into good, evil into angelic - take King Lear for an example.
Going to the Annual Groundhog festival in Bill Murray’s case began a long process of ultimate salvation. He loathes this day with a passion due to his egotistic and selfish personality, and the very idea of him presenting an open air weather forecast, orchestrated not by himself but by a Groundhog (due to annual tradition, if the groundhog sees a shadow then the area is supposed to have 5 more weeks of winter, if the groundhog sees no shadow, spring sets it), is enough to make him curl up and die. If this isn't bad enough for Bill, he wakes up at 6:00am the following morning to the horrific realisation that he is "reliving the same day over and over and over again".
Each day brings about some sort of change within his character, and Bill evolves into quite an interesting character by the time the film is through. The mere thought of re-living the same day again and again goes through many people's minds, and the writer of this film didn't fail to amuse on this popular fantasy
Watch it and see how funny yet touchingly romantic and sermon like the storyline manages to be. Excellent, see it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Interesting idea, the whole Shakespearian angle...although I'm sure Ramis was just coming up with a cool high concept idea! I didn't feel there was any sermonising being done. Any points that were being made were done in an extremely subtle manner. Would've liked to hear more about the film - Plissken.
pjm123 15.04.2001 19:58
It really is a good film, like you say very original. Goog review.
Decent, lighthearted and fully amusing slapstick is hard to come by these days, and ... more
1993'sGroundhog Daymanages to also be genuinely wise about the human condition. All this and belly laughs too! Bill Murray stars as Phil, a bored, petulant news reporte...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Decent, lighthearted and fully amusing slapstick is hard to come by these days, and ... more
1993'sGroundhog Daymanages to also be genuinely wise about the human condition. All this and belly laughs too! Bill Murray stars as Phil, a bored, petulant news reporte...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Decent, lighthearted and fully amusing slapstick is hard to come by these days, and ... more
1993'sGroundhog Daymanages to also be genuinely wise about the human condition. All this and belly laughs too! Bill Murray stars as Phil, a bored, petulant news reporte...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Bill Murray gives a brilliant performance, very funny and full of wonderful sarcasm Disadvantages: Many have tried to copy this format, but have failed miserably
jaffacakemonster 23.01.2001 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Groundhog Day (DVD)
![Groundhog Day (Collector's Edition) [DVD] [1993]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78545717.jpg "Groundhog Day (Collector's Edition) [DVD] [1993]")
![Groundhog Day [DVD] [1993]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78551473.jpg "Groundhog Day [DVD] [1993]")
Apr 15th, 2001
very helpful by (86%):
helpful by (14%):
