Groundhog Day Reviews

Groundhog Day is a wonderful movie. Essentially it is a one-joke comedy, but what makes Groundhog Day so delightful is that whereas it could have been derivative and predictable, the film is always full of life and full to the brim with fresh ideas. The script is a delight, always funny, quotable and witty, while the story has a surprisingly refreshing concept and several great scenes.

The cinematography is beautiful, and the locations and production values are consistently striking. Also Harold Ramis's direction is excellent, the pace rarely lags and all the characters are credible. The acting is wonderful too, and by far one of the best assets of this film. Bill Murray gives one of the best performances of his career, Stephen Tabolowsky gives a superb turn as the nerdy insurance salesman and the lovely Andie McDowell has never been better.

In conclusion, a delightful film that works on all levels. 10/10 Bethany Cox

(Respaldo de mi reseña/análisis que se ha hecho en formato de video para el canal Davidcartoons)

El día de la marmota es una película hecha en 1993, que ha sido bastante reconocida a lo largo de los años hasta el punto de obtener un estatus de clásico, y no es de extrañar con su premisa tan interesante, de una persona que queda atrapada, en un día que se repite cíclicamente en bucle. Pero veamos, ¿qué tan buena es la ejecución de esta premisa? ¿qué tanto merece el estatus de clásico? ¿y qué tanto Davidcartoons puede arruinar tu gusto por tus películas preferidas?

Como dije antes, la premisa de la película es sumamente interesante y es que es una de estas películas cuyo simple concepto, ya implica muchas cosas y con tan solo pensarlo un poco, uno puede traer a su mente distintos mensajes relacionados a la premisa. Y ciertamente, eso es el día de la marmota, una exploración de este concepto, aprovechándolo para tratar sus interesantes implicaciones.
Pero a parte de esto, esta es también una película de carácter cómico, y es de notar que la comedia no se interpone en ningún momento con la seriedad de la película y sus mensajes, esto porque, si bien se basa en el absurdo de ciertas interacciones entre personajes, jamás llega a un nivel de absurdo demasiado elevado y por sobre todas las cosas, muy entre líneas, hay ciertas implicaciones algo serias que permanecen entre chiste y chiste, y bueno, la comedia en sí es bastante buena ya que recae en interacciones entre personajes y a parte, porque se basa en la naturaleza de la trama y el cómo el protagonista juega con la gente que hay a su alrededor, creando así interacciones disparatadas con situaciones chuscas.
Pero nada de esto funcionaría si los personajes no funcionaran. Todos los secundarios son simples, pero bastante efectivos, con alguna mínima caracterización que es aprovechada para las interacciones entre estos y el protagonista. Pero claro, él es el que reluce más, siendo así que la película gira en torno a su reacción al evento del día cíclico. Phil, es este personaje que es un total cretino, es desconsiderado, demasiado directo, gruñón, maleducado, vaya, una persona de pocas pulgas, pero es en base al evento especial del día en bucle, que este obtiene cierto aprendizaje para poder cambiar. Lo interesante de esto es el cómo el mayor conflicto de Phil en la película, es el de superar cierto vacío existencial, en el que se encuentra con una inevitable realidad en la que todo empieza a perder su significado, los actos no tienen consecuencias y nada trasciende en lo absoluto. Son las implicaciones del conflicto, lo que hace que la película tenga tan buenos temas e igualmente, buenos mensajes. Mensajes sobre el valor de que los actos tengan peso y consecuencias, sobre cómo el ser humano tiene la necesidad de hacer trascender sus actos, sobre cómo la muerte es necesaria para darle un valor a la vida y sobre cómo una buena actitud y mentalidad le pueden dar significado a esta. Lo que pasa es que, bueno, naturalmente, la conclusión de la vida es lo que hace uno desee aprovecharla y una vida sin muerte es básicamente una miseria existencial, si no hay fin ¿por qué avanzar?, también está esta cuestión de que las cosas pierden su valor porque llega un punto en el que uno ya conoce todo. Si ya no hay nada por conocer, ni alguna posibilidad por explorar, emmm… bueno, ¿por qué seguir? ¿por qué seguir si todo lo conoces ya y no habrá algo nuevo para ti, ni para la humanidad jamás?, igualmente, es la trascendencia de nuestros actos, lo que le da valor a estos y buena parte de lo que hace que el ser humano tenga valor y un propósito. Es al quitársele todas estas cosas a Phil, lo que hace que eventualmente se dé cuenta del valor de su vida y empiece a apreciarla. Pero aun más, se dé cuenta del valor de las personas que hay a su alrededor y de todas las posibilidades que tenían sus actos, para bien o para mal. Es esta comprensión, lo que da cabida al mensaje final, sobre decidir aquella posibilidad en la vida en la que uno es más altruista, buscando que otros sean felices y obteniendo así, la felicidad propia también, e igualmente, eligiendo aquella posibilidad en la que uno aprecia lo que hay a su alrededor. Me parecen muy buenos mensajes, pero si algo me gusta particularmente de estos, es el cómo al final te implican que, si bien son una muy buena parte para ser feliz, Phil no podría haberlo sido si el día ciclíco no hubiera teminado, pues la trascendencia de nuestros actos es también una parte íntegra de la vida para que tenga valor. Vivir el momento está muy bien, pero solo vivir el momento es vacío.

Con muy buenos mensajes, buen desarrollo del protagonista y una buena comedia acompañando todo esto, ¿es el día de la marmota un auténtico clásico? pues… de hecho sí, pero he de remarcar que para nada es una película perfecta, contando así con uno que otro aspecto, cuestionable.
Para empezar, el día cíclico comienza porque sí y termina porque sí. Uno podría decir que, bueno, es porque Phil necesitaba aprender su lección, pero es una excusa muy débil porque al final no hay absolutamente nada en la trama que justifique el inicio del día cíclico. Phil no descubre alguna cosa sobrenatural que lo cause, solo sucede espontáneamente en un momento aleatorio de su vida, que si es porque necesitaba aprender su lección, deja la duda de por qué no le había sucedido antes para empezar. Pero igualmente, utilizando esta misma excusa, entonces se implicaría que el día cíclico sucede por designios de la vida y la cosa es esta, si es así, esto implicaría que la vida metió el día cíclico de modo aleatorio y espontáneo, lo cual básicamente rompe el sentido de causalidad en la película. El motivo del por qué esto funciona en algo como, por ejemplo, The tatami galaxy, es porque ahí las cosas suceden por un deseo del protagonista, los eventos cíclicos suceden por contestaciones a las plegarias del personaje principal, pero en el día de la marmota no es así y todo se reduce a ser un evento random.
Otra cosa cuestionable de la película es sobre la relación entre Phil y Rita. Es bastante dudoso cómo es que Phil acaba conquistando a Rita en el lapso de un solo día y encima, haciéndolo ver al final como alguna especie de amor verdadero. Vale con Phil, él ha estado con Rita innumerables ocasiones ¿pero con Rita? me parece, forzado cuanto menos, que en un lapso tan corto de tiempo acabara rendida ante Phil, con una idea de amor verdadero y que encima va en contra de la caracterización de lo que se había presentado de Rita previamente, alguien que prefiere ir lentamente en las relaciones. Pero bueno.

Nada de esto quita que el día de la marmota es una película con grandes virtudes. La cual, si bien no es precisamente la más reflexiva, puede dar cabida a interesantes conclusiones y una que otra lectura interesante. A esto súmale un apartado técnico bastante funcional y una genial actuación, lo que da cabida a una buena película.

Workaholic asshole learns to appreciate the small things and slow down. Along the way they find love that was staring at them in the face in the entire time. A million romantic comedies have been built upon this structure, and they typically star a business woman falling for a salt of the earth type.

 

Well, Groundhog Day takes the typical “Bill Murray character” and gives him the comeuppance that eluded him in prior films. One of the great joys of star personas is in watching them stretch or get subverted in successive films. Murray spent a good part of the 80s developing a jocular asshole, a smug archetype that would machine-gun rattle quips and snark while remaining stagnant. He was happily anarchic and spotlight stealing, and Groundhog Day humbles him.

 

There’s a pleasing meta-textural element at play here. Actors on set often relive the same instances in a character’s life by repeating lines and filming scenes over and over again to the point of tedium. Pull back from that limited scope of behind the scenes knowledge and look at the structure of the film. It’s all about one character knowingly replaying the same day again until he learns something, or “gets it,” then finally being able to move on.

 

It’s this strangely limiting scope that enables Murray to provide one of his richest performances. If that feels like a contradiction, then realize that everyone else is basically locked into a repeat performance while Murray is self-aware about the truth. This provides a tremendous amount of wiggle room for him to improvise and throw wrenches into the predetermined system. Think of his movement through the stages of grief, complete with a montage of suicide attempts that are darkly hilarious and oddly touching, before arriving at a desire to better himself. The journey from A to B has a lot of potential for a comedic actor of Murray’s ability to combine sarcasm with deep feeling.

 

The mundanity of the structure and narrative loop could lend the film towards maudalin or heavy sentimentality, but Groundhog Day is delightfully spiky. That spoonful of arsenic makes the sugar go down in the most delightful way. Yes, the film wants to teach us about the empowerment of bettering ourselves, or nurturing our emotions and intellectual curiosity, but it also wants to wrap it all up in small town bric-a-brac that can easily lend itself towards corny Americana.

 

Murray and collaborator Harold Ramis manage to navigate the tricky tone and emerge with a perfectly sweet and tart comedy about spiritual development. While Murray’s character is threatened with the same day reoccurring ad infinitum, he eventually sees that if he develops as a person then he’ll manage to grow out of it. Groundhog Day reveals itself in its final moments as one of the most spiritual (if sarcastic) mainstream comedies ever made. Think of it as the jocular cousin of It’s a Wonderful Life.     

I always hear people mentioning this movie and I just never got around to checking it out. I love these kinds of stories so I decided to go ahead and check out the most famous one. Ah this was back when Harold Ramis made the good stuff! It has some pretty great moments. I wonder how long he was in the time lapse. There is definitely a lot of stuff I would attempt if I were in his situation. It's more like a light hearted dark comedy. Some things here are quite sad and depressing. Andie MacDowell was a hot young thing and still is. It's cool to see Michael Shannon's beginning here. I do think it felt a little rushed at the end and there was really no explanation as to what caused it all. The only thing we know for sure is that he had to change his ways permanently like Scrooge or things just would never be happy for him. The only thing about watching this over and over is that you won't get different results like he did "Ding!". After 22 years this movie still is quite entertaining and in my opinion fun. I definitely recommend seeing this if you haven't already.

Having now seen Groundhog Day myself, I wonder how teenagers - whose opinions of this film are probably not influenced by nostalgia - react to this film. Compared to comedies today, it is slower paced, strives for less belly-laughs, and is mostly just a quieter film. Do teens today have the patience to sit through 5 minutes of set-up with a significantly smaller gag ratio than today's comedies? Groundhog Day would never have been profitable, had it been made in the present. Which is a sad thing, as Groundhog Day reminds one of how charming the "quiet" comedy could be.

TV weatherman Phil Connors is as arrogant as they come. He's rude to those around them, and insists he's a star. Due to unexplained circumstances, however, Connors is set in a time loop, in which he must relive Groundhog Day, over and over again. And he has no idea how to get out of the loop.

Simply summarized, Groundhog Day is as pleasant as a film gets. While belly laughs are rare, there is a satisfactory amount of chuckles and smiles throughout the movie, but even then, one could argue that there are less such instances than in other comedies. For me, Groundhog Day is good entertainment, in spite of slightly less plentiful gags than modern audiences are used to. The story and protagonist are interesting enough that the film still works in spite of all that.

Groundhog Day has its sweet moments, mostly because of the romance between Connors and new producer, Rita Hanson, that works surprisingly well. Even when working with occasionally cheesy dialogue, the two leads have great chemistry, and thus, their relationship remains interesting and believable. It gives the film a much needed extra dimension.

My sole complaint (which is more a matter of preference than anything), is that Groundhog Day elects to avoid some of the darker elements of its premise. Groundhog Day is played mostly for comedy. Though it is implied that Phil Connors is frustrated with living the same day over and over, there is no dramatic scene or outlet to truly express this. Even during a montage in which he tries to commit suicide in various ways, it is done for purely comedic purposes. The ending is also a pinch unsatisfying, thanks to a cop-out that results in a somewhat hasty finale. The lighter tone of the film is largely to blame for this.

Groundhog Day boasts an enjoyable cast. Bill Murray is delightful in the lead, beautifully balancing humor and drama. Andie MacDowell generally gets it right, but falters at time with some of the less intelligent dialogue. Stephen Tobolowsky is a highlight among the talented cast, portraying an overly-friendly insurance agent named Ned Ryerson. The film wisely chooses to limit his presence to just a few scenes, thus eliminating any chance of him becoming overbearing or obnoxious as he well might have with more screen time.

George Fenton's score is playful and fun. Though it does contain some unfortunate '90's synths and at times, ill-suited electric guitar, it's a pleasing and enjoyable effort by Fenton.

One could argue that Groundhog Day is an overly sentimental and innocuous film - a good time-killer, but nothing more. I would argue that it's a bit more than that. It does some interesting things with its premise, and has more depth than one might expect (even if it could have supported significantly more). Even if the ending disappoints a bit, and there aren't many big laughs, Groundhog Day is entertaining enough and funny enough in an endearingly mild way to make for pleasant and likable entertaining. Labeling it as a masterpiece - as many have come to do so - is absolutely stretching things more than a little. But even if its cultural significance didn't make it a must-see by most standards, it's an enjoyable enough film that it deserves a recommendation anyway.

The most horrible thing about life is not knowing what's going to happen next. Or at least that's what we have thought up till now. But Groundhog Day, Harold Ramis's brilliantly imaginative, wildly funny new comedy starring Bill Murray, demonstrates that there is something even more horrible - knowing exactly what's going to happen next.

The first time I watched this, I thought it was boring and overrated, however because everyone enjoyed it, I watched it again 6 months later and actually I know what people think is the best thing: the same thing happening with a slight difference, I didn’t think it was so bad so I changed my rate, it’s a good movie and even though there are better movies than this but is worth a look if you like Bill Murray and/or Andie MacDowell

Mr. Phil Conners, weatherman for channel 9 news sent to cover the "Groundhog Day". Anon serious man with a care free attitude towards life end up in a dilemma re-living the groundhog day day after day, that where he found the true spirit of life. The way he managed this repetition is treat to watch started from frustration, happiniess, caring and finally loving. A man transformed into a loving person. Good one to watch.

I remember watching this film a long time ago, (as in almost a decade or so ago). I never realized how great it really is. In my opinion, you can't be a kid and understand the concept of this movie. It is in so many words an adult comedy. I am not saying it has even the smallest bit of inappropriate content in it, but the younger groups might think it is stupid just seeing the same thing over and over again. The truth is, it is nowhere near the same thing over and over. It is a great/unique story not seen often today.

A grumpy weatherman (Bill Murray) keeps reliving the same day about a hundred times straight. (By the way Bill Murray could not have done better in his role, and was perfect for the part). The day is February 2nd: Groundhog day. At first, he is confused, and becomes even more grumpy due to nothing being different day by day. (You know you would get a little irritable if that happened to you too. I know I would) He eventually memorizes every event and exactly when they happen. It is very entertaining to watch. After awhile Phil realizes it is actually a privilege to happen to him. He takes advantage of what everyone wishes they could have: basically an unlimited amount of lives, and being able to do whatever you wanted with absolutely no consequences. He makes everything right, helps the community out, and falls in love with his co-worker.

The moral to the story is love, and to live everyday as if it is your last. this film does a great job at portraying that. Great ending, and an absolutely excellent film. Definitely a classic to be remembered, and of course a must buy.