Seasonal Cinema

Jesse Walker | February 2, 2005

In honor of Groundhog Day, the day, here's a nice Roger Ebert essay on Groundhog Day, the movie.

Comments

|2.2.05 @ 12:50PM|#

Really was a good movie.

|2.2.05 @ 12:52PM|#

This has always been one of my favorite movies for some of the reasons that Ebert lists, but much more. I know it's cliched to say that things are underrated, but this movie really is. Mention it, and the response is invariably "That's a good movie", but it's never recognized as a great movie, which it is.

Murray is almost always tremendous, probably one of the best three comedic actors ever, and easily one of the top 10 actors of all time.

Ebert's right - no one else can make this movie go.

|2.2.05 @ 1:16PM|#

One of the top 3 comedic actors of all time?

|2.2.05 @ 1:26PM|#

One of the top 3 comedic actors of all time?

Yup. Better than the Marx Bros, better than Gleason, FAR better than Murphy. Jesus, is Eddie Murphy in the top 20?

He's in a class with Chaplin and the Stooges, just behind Chaplin and just ahead of the stooges. Buster Keaton, Peter Sellers and Gene Wilder, John Cleese are right there behind the top group.

|2.2.05 @ 1:28PM|#

Where Murray ranks as a comedic actor would probably be a neverending debate, but I'd certainly put him in the top 10. He's always been able to make me laugh just sitting there, not speaking or anything. With many of his movies, I can't think of anybody else who would have played the same role anywhere near as effectively or hilariously.

|2.2.05 @ 1:30PM|#

Wow. There's no point to arguing, since mileage varies and all that, but I just don't find that Bill Murray all that funny, whereas the Stooges and the Marxes were pioneering geniouses. I'm not really sure what Bill Murray's contribution was to cinema, except that one character he plays in pretty much every movie. And anyone having anything to do with "What About Bob?" should be shot on sight.

|2.2.05 @ 1:32PM|#

One of the few movies I have watched repeatedly and could not think of a single thing about it that would be better off if changed.

It is, in a word, perfect.

|2.2.05 @ 1:41PM|#

Only 40 cycles? The 10,000 seemed more likely. He learned to play piano, he learned how to be a doctor for the old homeless guy, he learned how to ice sculpt.

That's a lot to mster in 40 days!

|2.2.05 @ 1:42PM|#

Where Murray ranks as a comedic actor would probably be a neverending debate, but I'd certainly put him in the top 10. He's always been able to make me laugh just sitting there, not speaking or anything. With many of his movies, I can't think of anybody else who would have played the same role anywhere near as effectively or hilariously.

Big Ern is finally above the law!

|2.2.05 @ 1:44PM|#

One of the few movies I have watched repeatedly and could not think of a single thing about it that would be better off if changed.

It is, in a word, perfect.

I used to think that Andie MacDowell wasn't a solid choice for casting. But the more I watched the movie, the more I realized that she was, indeed, perfect. She's striking, yet they make her unassuming enough to believe. And the roughness in her acting translates perfectly into the role.

|2.2.05 @ 1:48PM|#

Only 40 cycles? The 10,000 seemed more likely. He learned to play piano, he learned how to be a doctor for the old homeless guy, he learned how to ice sculpt.

That's a lot to mster in 40 days!

Maybe it's 40 cycles that are counted in the movie, because 10,000 to pull the whole thing off is far more likely. The things you mentioned PLUS learning French and not only noticing, but paying enough attention to organize the armored car heist.

|2.2.05 @ 1:58PM|#

I'll pull out my copy and watch it again with my daughters tonight. Once again they will groan when I say "I feel like I've watched this movie a hundred times."

|2.2.05 @ 2:15PM|#

I'll pull out my copy and watch it again with my daughters tonight. Once again they will groan when I say "I feel like I've watched this movie a hundred times."

Tell them to play the groundhog day drinking game to amuse themselves.

|2.2.05 @ 2:22PM|#

Bill Murray will always have my respect because he has consistently transcended the SNL curse. I think it's because he's always been smart in picking projects that suit his comedic abilities. Caddyshack? Brilliant.

"Cannon ball! Keep it going! Cannonball! Coming through!"

|2.2.05 @ 2:48PM|#

And anyone having anything to do with "What About Bob?" should be shot on sight.

You can go straight to hell, mister! That movie is comic gold. You must clearly be of the "straight to the gas chamber" Objectivist ilk.

(Just kidding about that Rand/gas-chamber association, btw)

|2.2.05 @ 2:56PM|#

Have to fall in on the side of the Goiter. I've never been able to stand ten straight seconds of the Stooges, and although I superficially enjoy Marx brothers films, Murray is much more a thinking man's clown; he's able to distill bourgeois frustration, emptiness and mediocrity into hilarity and poignancy. I'd put him in the same class with Jack Nicholson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly for his skill at turning average schmoes into fascinating and deeply touching personas. I think "Groundhog Day" is as sublimely edited as "Casablanca" was.

|2.2.05 @ 3:16PM|#

Can you play the Groundhog day drinking game with Hot Chocolate? They are only 8 and 14.

|2.2.05 @ 3:30PM|#

Bill Murray is WAY funnier than the Stooges, who are just stoopid.

I'm remembering a comment a few threads back about it being rare to be female and libertarian. I think it must be even more rare to be female and think the Stooges are funny.

|2.2.05 @ 3:39PM|#

Can you play the Groundhog day drinking game with Hot Chocolate? They are only 8 and 14.

Don't kid yourself, the 14 year old is drinking already.

As for the 8 year old, do it with Jolt. At least let her understand that there should be a buzz involved in drinking games.

|2.2.05 @ 3:46PM|#

In regards to how many cycles he goes through in the movie, on the special edition DVD (I can't recall if it's in the commentary or the documentary) it's mentioned that Murray lived through "thousands and thousands" of days. So 40 must refer only to how many are shown on screen.

gaius marius|2.2.05 @ 4:03PM|#

i have always loved this film, even though i hate virtually all hollywood cinema. its lesson is to thoroughly expose the fraud of nietzschean relativism and antisocial individualism. i can see why it would be "hailed by religious leaders as the most spiritual film of all time."

Jesse Walker|2.2.05 @ 4:19PM|#

Bill Murray is a favorite of mine, too. Not just for his roles in great movies like Groundhog Day and Rushmore, but for the fact that he still manages to be good in otherwise awful movies like Meatballs (or, for that matter, Cradle Will Rock).

I cannot conceive of how someone could prefer Jackie Gleason to Bill Murray, but hey...human diversity is a wonderful thing.

|2.2.05 @ 4:24PM|#

fraud of nietzschean relativism and antisocial individualism.

*sigh*

There is only one poster here that I wouldn't invite to a party.

|2.2.05 @ 4:35PM|#

Bill Murray is a favorite of mine, too. Not just for his roles in great movies like Groundhog Day and Rushmore,

And Kingpin, Stripes, Royal Tannebaums, Caddyshack, Scrooged, and What About Bob?

but for the fact that he still manages to be good in otherwise awful movies like Meatballs (or, for that matter, Cradle Will Rock).

He's often the only funny thing in a movie, or the only thing that makes movies bearable. Movies like Charlie's Angels the two you mentioned and The Man who knew too little.

|2.2.05 @ 5:21PM|#

On your death bed you will receive total and complete consciousness.

So I got that going for me.

Which is nice.

|2.2.05 @ 6:47PM|#

I think Ebert's "40" actually means 40,000.

Some station should run a "Groundhog Day" marathon on Feb. 2. They'd play the movie, and just before the final scene, where Phil wakes up with Rita next to him and it's finally Feb. 3, they start over from the beginning. Repeat until the last showing of the day, when the ending is finally shown.

Of course, this should ideally be done on the Encore channel. . .

|2.2.05 @ 8:10PM|#

Rex,
When I was in college, Starz was showing Groundhog Day. The thing is, Starz shows the same movie all the time for a week or two straight. Everytime it was on, someone was flipping through the channels and stopped at Groundhog Day, usually after exclaiming "I love this movie!" I swear I heard that damn Sonny and Cher song about a thousand times that week. I wanted to drive to Palm Springs and pimp slap Sonny afterwards.

|2.2.05 @ 9:09PM|#

I just checked my cable listings -- and it's not on tonight!! Anyway, I am thrilled to see this movie getting some respect -- it's one of my favorites. I never saw it until a couple years ago, and I thought, what an unassuming little gem of a movie. As for Bill Murray, no retrospective is complete without mention of Ghostbusters.

|2.2.05 @ 11:04PM|#

Bill Murray is a favorite of mine, too. Not just for his roles in great movies like Groundhog Day and Rushmore, but for the fact that he still manages to be good in otherwise awful movies

After "Where the Buffalo Roam" I think I'd rather spend a night out with Murray playing Hunter Thompson than with Hunter Thompson himself.

|2.3.05 @ 11:24AM|#

The only serious flaw with the movie is that Bill Murray isn't believable when he's joyous at the end. Fortunately, it's extremely quick.

- Josh