February Recommendation: Groundhog Day

 

                                       Well, everyone, Valentine's Day is almost upon us as well as Ash Wednesday as well. So, I figured well thirty-one years seems close enough to finally recommend a movie that so iconic that it's basically my entire families favorite movie, and to be truthfully honest it's defiantly one of my favorite movies from legendary comic charming man Bill Murray. Groundhog Day is one of the greatest and sadly last collaborations both Harold Ramis and Bill Murray ever did in their film careers, though when you make movies with the same guy for over the course of the 80's it's maybe a good thing to give some space. A side from this being the ultimate chick flick film to watch this Valentine's Day, but it's without a doubt an iconic film that has a lot of great one lines and some Buddhist and Christian themes?

                                      A cynical TV weatherman (Bill Murray) finds himself reliving the same day repeatedly when he goes on location to the small town of Punxsutawney to film a report about their annual Groundhog Day. His predicament drives him to distraction, until he sees a way of turning the situation to his advantage.

                                      The fact that this is a family favorite between my own family is without a doubt special let’s be honest moreover learning that Egon directed this movie and shares a scene with Bill Murray is also amazing too, especially when I assume that's when they got into a bare-knuckle brawl. I have a unique story of watching the movie at a young age, it was during the time where we always go to the video store to rent movies (YALL REMEMBER RENTING MOVIES?) and we checked out the movie because I've always remembered watching Ghostbusters 2 because my parents wouldn't let me watch the first movie because my brother also remembered watching What about Bob, so again Bill Murray was a house hold name for my family, anyway getting back to main topic I remember watching the movie all the way through not understanding the whole concept but just finding hilarious moments when Bill is going out with a bang from punching Ned to making suicide look hilarious. And to be fair it's been quite a long time since I watched Groundhog Day, furthermore, not going to lie when I say this but the fact that this movie is thirty-one years old, this movie without a doubt ages like fine wine. Like this is a film that includes perfect casting directed by one of the best comedic directors of the 80's and 90's and it just balances out perfectly, especially when you have Bill Murray who plays a perfect a**hole throughout his whole career and I truly believe with this movie it was his ability to finally act out like a human being for once, for which really if I was ever a God I would curse every Kardashian, politician and every talk show host to spend the rest of their days on the same day and have to repeat it, which in all honesty that sounds like a great power to have. Andie McDowell as always plays that perfect leading lady, but really Chris Elliot does a fantastic job playing the everyday cameraman who considers Murray a pre-Madonna and always has those great one-liners that everyone would be wanting to say. Now, I've always said that there was always a specific actor or co-star that deserves the huge props from making the movie a success and to be fair I could be wrong on that, so either way I never consider myself to be right, but deep down the real star of the movie is editor Pembroke J. Herring who edited Groundhog Day for which he does a fantastic job making two hour long movie of one man going through the same day doing whatever he wants, because if you've seen the movie or haven't seen the movie the editing tells the story of Bill Murray's character discovering himself repeating the same day then realizing he can do whatever he wants but most importantly he tries to score with Andie McDowell's character and scene or cut you begin to see that Bill Murray is learning what to do and what not to do and sadly enough this didn't get nominated for an Oscar which is a complete shame because this movie does have the best story telling through editing and Groundhog Day is a great example of that. A side from the movie being thirty-one years old now, and there's a tone of theories out there of what this film is truly about and it goes from Bill Murray's character being dead and is in purgatory or writer Dan Rubin created themes that include from Christianity to Zen Buddhism, and really I don't believe Dan Rubin and Harold Ramis really written this to be a base one other religious themes I just think that they just made a simple movie about a man being stuck in a time loop and slowly begins to be a human being, and sure there's no explanation of how Murray was able to be stuck in this time loop or how he can break it for which it truly doesn't matter because this movie is really surrounded by great directing Bill Murray's stellar acting as well as Chris Elliot and Andie McDowell's great supporting acting as well, as well as great writing, and sure you blab on about the true meaning behind it but deep down it's really about one a**hole slowly figuring out he needs to change moreover improve his humanity on others and really if I had that power I'd defiantly curse every horrible person out there because the people I work with, will never get it the situation there in. Groundhog Day is defiantly in my top ten films for Valentine's Day as well as Bill Murray and Harold Ramis greatest collaboration and sadly was there last film together for which really I don't know the true understanding to Ramis side but Murray was one of those actors that had a massive ego that you'd know things would get tense for which really both men are Cubs fans so, really in my line of work Cub Fans are terrible human beings, just like Red Sox fans and Giant fans. Defiantly, the best chick flick movie to watch with the love of your life and if you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend watching this great film with your life partner before you go to church or after church because the funny thing is that Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday are one the same time so good luck taking you're first date out to church.