Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day has only gotten better with age. A somewhat unassuming 1993 Bill Murray vehicle upon first release, it’s now regarded as a heartfelt comedy classic. It’s a major favorite among Buddhists; I might be mistaken, but I think I heard that it’s the Dalai Lama’s favorite film.
I like Groundhog Day for a lot of reasons. It’s Murray best work by far during a middling period of his career, and the film has a wonderfully feel-good Capra-esque quality by the end. One of the things that I love, though, is how Ramis structures the film around repetitions of events and variations on those events.
Over on YouTube, Neil Fennell has created a video that shows all of the events of the day depicted in Groundhog Day played simultaneously. Give it a watch below. It’s the right occasion for it.
As Ethan Anderton of /Film notes, there were obviously more days in the life of Phil Connors (Murray’s character) than the 37 days shown in the movie. He likely spent several years reliving the same day. Anderton says one estimate suggests Phil spent 8 years, 8 months, and 16 days living the same day over and over again; another estimate is as high as 34 years.
On a related note, I think a better name for Edge of Tomorrow would have been Groundhog Die.
Bing!
[via /Film, Neil Fennell on YouTube]
