Title: Groundhog Day
Released: 5 November 2012
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliot, Stephen Tobolowsky.
Director: Harold Ramis
Certificate: U
Genre: Comedy
Time: 100 minutes
Originally released in 1993, Groundhog Day was produced, written and directed by Harold Ramis from a story by Trevor Albert. The film stars Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliot and Stephen Tobolowsky.
Now you can experience Groundhog Day over and over in HD as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases this comedy classic, digitally re-mastered, on Blu-ray for the first time on November 5, 2012.
TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities, it’s his fourth year running and he hates it. It’s cold, it’s boring, it’s a groundhog predicting the weather, it’s an insult to his profession. It used to be a real festival, they used to bring out the groundhog and eat it, or at least so says Connors. Once the Groundhog festivities are over Connors and his team are heading out of town; with Connors eager to escape and get back to his normal life and job, but when a blizzard – that he failed to predict – strikes, blocking roads and making travel out of the town impossible his day becomes even worse. You might say it’s the worst day of his life. Everything is going wrong. His advances on his new Producer, Rita, (Andie MacDowell) aren’t going too well and his cameraman, Larry, (Chris Elliott) doesn’t like him very much either now he’s stuck with them until they can get out of town. But when Connors wakes up the next morning it's Groundhog Day all over again... and again... and again. Connors is stuck in a timewarp and he doesn’t know it yet but the only way he’ll escape this personal Hell is by becoming a better person and earning the right.
It’s impossible not to like Bill Murray. He’s funny, charming, handsome and an excellent actor. He’s been in some wonderful films such as Ghostbusters and Scrooged but one of my very favourite films, ever since I saw it first as a teenager, is Groundhog Day.
Groundhog Day is a true family film. I'm not a great fan of family films in general – many of them are simply too sappy – but Groundhog Day has a rich vein of black humour and with Murray in the lead role displaying his uncanny ability to deliver the cruellest or funniest of lines with dead pan skill it’s a real treat. His style of dry wit is prefect for the role. Andie McDowell provides likeable support and Chris Elliot grabs a few brilliant lines but it's Stephen Tobolowsky as Ned Reyerson who steals several moments throughout the film, acting over-the-top but pitch-perfect at the same time.
Murray, of course, imbues the character of Phil Conners, and the movie itself, with heart and poignancy and as his character transforms from a grumpy guy that only looks out for himself to a generous, caring, fully-functioning, important member of society Murray runs with it making it believable throughout. It's a familiar plot device of a man who earnestly changes his character in order to win over a woman but Murray and McDowell make it believable. Connors starts out as completely unworthy of Rita’s love but by the end he has proved himself and earned her love and admiration.
Groundhog Day is a film that you can watch over and over again, and now in HD, and looking better than ever you can get even more enjoyment from it.
Blu-ray Bonus Features:
• A Different Day: An Interview with Harold Ramis
• The Study of Groundhogs: A Real Life Look at Marmots
• Newly discovered Deleted Scenes
• The Weight of Time - a documentary on the making of Groundhog Day
• Audio Commentary with Director Harold Ramis
• Needle Nose Ned’s Picture-in-Picture Track
