• Release Date: 2009-01-27
• Genre: Comedy
• Artist Name: Carol Bivins, Rick Ducommun, Robin Duke, Chris Elliott, Marita Geraghty, Andie MacDowell, Rick Overton, David Pasquesi, Angela Paton, Les Podewell
• Director: Harold Ramis
• AMG Rating:
• MPAA Rating: PG
• Category: Feature Films
• Cautions: Adult Situations
• Year: 1993
• Running Time: 103
• Movie Country of Origin: USA
• Available Language: English
• Subtitles: Eng/Fre/KO/Spa/Por/TH
  

Bill Murray plays Phil, a TV weatherman working for a local station in Pennsylvania but convinced that national news stardom is in his grasp. Phil displays a charm and wit on camera that evaporates the moment the red light goes off; he is bitter, appallingly self-centered, and treats his co-workers with contempt, especially his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot). On February 2, 1992, Phil, Rita, and Larry are sent on an assignment that Phil especially loathes: the annual Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, PA, where the citizens await the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who will supposedly determine the length of winter by his ability to see his own shadow. Phil is eager to beat a hasty retreat, but when a freak snowstorm strands him in Punxsutawney, he wakes up the next morning with the strangest sense of déjà vu: he seems to be living the same day over again. The next morning it happens again, and then again. Soon, no matter what he does, he's stuck in February 2, 1992; not imprisonment nor attempted suicide nor kidnapping the groundhog gets him out of the loop. But the more Phil relives the same day, the more he's forced to look at other people's lives, and something unusual happens: he begins to care about others. He starts to respect people, he tries to save the life of a homeless man, and he discovers that he's falling in love with Rita and therefore wants to be someone that she could love in return. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Comedy, Fantasy

Redemption, Battle of the Sexes, Small-Town Life, Fish Out of Water, Opposites Attract, Time Travel

Deadpan, Irreverent, Humorous, Easygoing, Fanciful, Madcap, Sweet

DVD Features

• "Needle Nose Ned's Picture-in-Picture Track"
• Audio commentary with director Harold Ramis
• "A Different Day: An Interview with Harold Ramis"
• "The Weight of Time" documentary
• "The Study of Groundhogs: A Real Life Look at Marmots"
• Deleted scenes

• 1994--British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Harold Ramis-Nominee

Review

A charming and well-crafted comedy, Groundhog Day is that rare Bill Murray vehicle in which the material (and its execution) are every bit as good as the star's performance. Murray gives a top-shelf performance that covers a surprisingly broad emotional spectrum, and Andie MacDowell is luminous as Rita. Danny Rubin's screenplay and Harold Ramis's direction take a frankly unbelievable situation and treat it with enough realism to allow the audience to suspend disbelief; although the almost science-fiction premise resembles that of such serious experimental movies as Last Year at Marienbad (1961) and La jetée (1962), Groundhog Day grounds its high concept in romantic comedy, in the classic journey of a grump reformed, and in the details of ordinary life. The result is one of the richest and most dimensional comedies of the 1990s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi