[A] great American comedy.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:49
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8/10
Synopsis: Once again, for the fifth year in a row, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is forced to cover the Groundhog Day ceremonies in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, an assignment he truly despises. But... Once again, for the fifth year in a row, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is forced to cover the Groundhog Day ceremonies in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, an assignment he truly despises. But this year something truly bizarre happens after he finishes the report: When he wakes up the next morning, ready to leave, he discovers it's February 2 all over again. He tries to tell his producer, Rita (Andie MacDowell), what's happening, but neither she nor anyone else understands; only he remembers that they've already lived through Groundhog Day. When the same thing happens the next morning, he thinks he's going insane and wreaks havoc all through the town. More and more mornings pass, all of them February 2, and all of them with an ever angrier Phil. Desperate to escape, he even tries suicide, but still another February 2 dawns. As he starts realizing that his exploits are not making time march on any quicker, Phil begins to change his behavior, performing a series of lifesaving tasks until he becomes a model citizen, hoping it will be enough to get him out of Punxsutawney forever. Along the way he learns more about the people around him--and himself--than he ever thought possible. The film is extremely well put together by director Harold Ramis, and the script by Danny Rubin and Ramis is sharp and clever. The actors--many of whom have to perform essentially the same scene over and over again, with only subtle differences--is a riot. [More]
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick Ducommun, Harold Ramis, Robin Duke
Director: Harold Ramis
Director: Harold Ramis
Screenwriter: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis
Producer: Trevor Albert, C.O. Erickson, Harold Ramis, Whitney White
Composer: George Fenton
Reviews for Groundhog Day
Ramis directs this surreal suburban fantasy with an admirably light touch, revelling in its absurd repetitions, surprising us with narrative ellipses, and allowing Murray ample space to indulge his special mix of sarcasm and smarm.
This is a beautiful film. On the surface, a rolling ball, a silly comedy, a farce even. But a closer look, a closer look, reveals a beauty easily not seen.
Something very rare in today's Hollywood -- a film that is in the same time very funny and very humane, thought-provoking yet entertaining.
This movie has all the qualities necessary to be a crowd-pleaser: likable characters, charismatic performers, a strong, capably-executed premise, and lots of laughs.
Brilliant, quirky, good-natured, and smart are just some of the adjectives that we film critics don't get to use often enough, but all of them apply to Groundhog Day.
Ramis wisely unravels his plot, using both variation and repetition to terrific effect, as you know what is coming but not exactly how it is going to happen. It's all believable, in a way.
Since arriving as a mild success in 1993, Groundhog Day has gradually achieved the status of beloved. The American Film Institute rates it No.34 on its list of all-time funniest movies, and it's a story that bears frequent repeat viewings.
In an interesting twist on reincarnation, Phil keeps coming back to the same day until he gets it right.
A memorable comedy for the ages, Groundhog Day digs deeper than most magic-realist comedies... [Blu-ray]
...We take pleasure in screenwriters [Harold] Ramis and Danny Rubin out-fantasizing us.
[Murray] carries Groundhog Day with his uniquely frittery nonchalance and makes the movie a comic time warp anyone should be happy to get stuck in.
The movie deserves its fans, earns our respect, delivers richly on its initial promises if not always on its greater ones, and rewards multiple viewings, even as it carries a built-in joke about the typical shelf-life of repeated experience.
A marginal success, but it could have been a complete one if the people behind the camera did as good a job as those in front of it.
What places it in the pantheon of great Hollywood comedies is that it manages to be wildly humorous without being moronic, romantic without being cloying, and meaningful without being preachy.
One would hardly expect Murray and Ramis to come up with a gentle, sweet-natured romantic comedy that wanders into high-minded Frank Capra territory.
The thing that I probably liked best about this movie was that it took a premise that could get redundant after a while, but kept spinning it into new directions.
It's always intelligent and hilarious, and it sometimes gets irresistibly romantic or delightfully cynical. It's extraordinary how the film balances such different moods without ever taking a wrong turn.
Latest News for Groundhog Day
April 01, 2009:
Danny Rubin Searching for Words That Rhyme with "Groundhog" ![]()
Six years ago, Stephen Sondheim told reporters he was interested in a musical stage adaptation of "Groundhog Day" -- and now, according to Harold Ramis, original screenwriter... More...
February 10, 2009:
New Groundhog Day Commentary Track Available for Download ![]()
To celebrate the recent release of "Groundhog Day" for Blu-ray, /Film regulars David Chen and Devindra Hardawar put together a new commentary track for the movie with Stephen... More...
July 01, 2008:
Edinburgh 2008: What to Watch
We share twenty of the best films screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, currently running in the Scottish city. More...
February 28, 2008:
Get Ready for Step Up 3-D
First, Disney ordered you to Step Up, and you complied. Then, they demanded that you Step Up 2 the Streets -- and you did that, too. You know what comes next, right? More...
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