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8.8/10
FilmFascination Rating
When I first watched ‘Groundhog Day,’ I enjoyed it very much. But still, I wasn’t sure what to write about it. I recently watched it again and realised that I had to add it to my Great movies list. ‘Groundhog Day’ engages the viewer and makes them enjoy it. It does this so naturally that you would have to take a step back to realise how amazing the movie is.
Phil (Bill Murray) is a self-obsessed weatherman, the ‘talent’ of his show, as he says, who is as obnoxious as we think he is the first time we watch him speak. He isn’t much happy about his obligation of going to Groundhog Day at Punxsutawney and that is the period when we enter this story. The moment he reaches Punxsutawney, all he can think about is leaving the place as soon as he can. He completes all his obligations and is ready to return home just when an unexpected blizzard sets in which blocks the roads and even shuts down the telephone lines. So, with no other option left, he sleeps again and wakes up tomorrow to the same groundhog day which already happened yesterday (2nd February). The song ‘I got you Babe’ starts at 6 am, and he meets the same beggar he met yesterday, the ‘bing’ insurance friend again along with the groundhog telling that there are 6 more months of winter. Except for him, everyone is living the day as if it was a new one. They will repeat themselves unless he changes the script, but tomorrow they will have forgotten everything and will go back to the first script of 2nd February.
He feels stuck in a day and in a place, he doesn’t want to be in until he realizes that the deeds he does today have no consequences whatsoever. Whatever he does today, tomorrow (which is actually going to be the same day) everyone is going to forget what happened on the day that only Phil lived again.
That is when he starts to truly live. He performs all the intrusive thoughts I would want to do. He dies several times in different ways, drives recklessly to end up in jail, and even steals money. But in the process of living the same day over and over again he becomes interested in his new producer Rita who had accompanied him to Punxsutawney. Every day he gets to know her more. But there is one problem. He has got only one day to make her fall in love with him. Because tomorrow she is going to forget everything and it’s all back to square one.
If I think about it again, it was a hell lot of times that we had to go through the same day over and over again. In fact, the term ‘Groundhog Day ’ meaning an unpleasant, repetitive situation has become a part of the English Lexicon. It is only because of Murray that it did not feel much. With no offense to all the talented actors in the movie, Bill is the one who carries the whole film. His reaction to the simplest of things is amazing to watch. He plays his character with such finesse yet at ease. His cynicism and eventually his sincerity when he changes feel so real because he comes by them so honestly. Phil does not transform into a different person and instead grows into a better one.
David O Russell, director of Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter, said, “I would give my left arm to have written that fucking script. It’s the only movie I think of from that period other than the ones by Quentin [Tarantino]. It makes me mad because I would so like to make a film like that. Oh man, I could go on forever about that movie …”.
We never really understand why Phil is living the same day repeatedly. But that is why it relates more. One of my favourite conversations in the movie is when one night when Phil is sitting alone at the bar he says to himself: “What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and everything that you did was the same, and nothing mattered?” The guy next to him overhears him and answers: “That about sums it up for me.”. None of us exactly know how we get stuck in this monotonous life, doing the same shit again and again, until we decide to change something and break the loop.
When I initially watched ‘Groundhog Day’, I enjoyed it so much and everything was done so seamlessly- may it be the tone of the movie, characterization or atmosphere the movie creates; that I did not realize the efforts it actually needed to get it all right. After watching the movie, the song ‘I Got You Babe’ starts playing in your mind unexpectedly and that is when you realize that you have seen a memorable film that is going to stay with you for some time.
Favourite Quotes
Rita: Do you ever have déjà vu?
Phil: Didn’t you just ask me that?
Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Ralph: That about sums it up for me.
Phil: You want a prediction about the weather, you’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.
Phil: [talking to a sleeping Rita] I think you’re the kindest, sweetest, prettiest person I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve never seen anyone that’s nicer to people than you are. The first time I saw you… something happened to me. I never told you but… I knew that I wanted to hold you as hard as I could. I don’t deserve someone like you. But if I ever could, I swear I would love you for the rest of my life.
Rita: Did you say something?
Phil: Good night.
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