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$9.95 - Groundhog Day [VHS]
Product DescriptionBill Murray does warmth in his most consistently effective post-Stripes comedy, a romantic fantasy about a wacky weatherman forced to relive one strange day over and over again, until he gets it right. Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to watch the famous groundhog encounter his shadow, Murray falls into a time warp that is never explained but pays off so richly that it doesn't need to be. The elaborate loop-the-loop plot structure cooked up by screenwriter Danny Rubin is crystal-clear every step of the way, but it's Murray's world-class reactive timing that makes the jokes explode, and we end up looking forward to each new variation. He squeezes all the available juice out of every scene. Without forcing the issue, he makes us understand why this fly-away personality responds so intensely to the radiant sanity of the TV producer played by Andie MacDowell. The blissfully clueless Chris Elliott (Cabin Boy) is Murray's nudnik cameraman. --David Chute
Most Recent Customer ReviewsDate : 2010-03-09
Summary : Even better in Hi-Def
This movie is a yearly favorite in our home. It was great to find it in Blu-Ray
Date : 2010-03-09
Summary : Classic Silliness with a Message
Groundhog Day is a timeless classic that my kids and I enjoy every year on February 2nd, if not more often! We find ourselves repeating "snippets" from the movie as we go through our lives the days and weeks after we watch it. We find it a great bonding film, and we have many memories associated with it. Enjoy!
Date : 2010-03-06
Summary : One of the best comedies ever made!
"Where's everybody going?"
"To Gobbler's Knob - it's Groundhog Day!"
"It's still just once a year isn't it?"
What would you do if you found you had to live the same day over and over again? That's the question facing Phil Connors (Bill Murray, Ghostbusters) who surely gives one of the performances of his career as the cynical, grouchy weatherman of a TV network in this superb comedy.
Phil is sent to the small town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania to cover the Groundhog Day festivities, but ends up being trapped in the town when a freak blizzard strikes and he is unable to go home. Things get even weirder when he wakes up the next day, and finds it is Groundhog Day, again.
And again... and again....
It is a great credit to director Harold Ramis and the screenwriters that this film is consistently hilarious and fresh, despite having essentially just 1 joke in it. It really had me laughing out loud in places because of the supremely witty script and some of the escapades in the film, and there's something so funny about the way Phil is first puzzled it is the same day again, then bewildered or angry, then discovers he can change his persona each time he lives through Groundhog Day to suit his needs - even if manipulating his day to win the heart of cheerful producer Rita (Andie McDowell) is not quite so easy...
Andie's performance in the film is very good and her romance with Bill Murray's character is sweetly believable, the pair have nice chemistry between them.
Poor Phil has to resort to desperate measures to make it become the next day which can be very funny indeed, and even though his character is cynical and has an arrogant, even cruel, streak in the beginning you feel sorry for him as the film goes on which, again, I feel is a sign of excellent writing. We are at one with Phil, seeing the film through his eyes - we want him to succeed and end up with Rita.
I loved the "repeated" scenes in the film, showing how his reaction changes (perhaps ironically because they are something you know is going to happen), like the smashing of the clock radio playing I Got You, Babe. That scene never fails to make me laugh.
I think the film even poses interesting questions beneath the gags - how would you live your life if you had free reign to what you wanted, with no consequences? Would you be happy?
Through his experiences, Phil gradually changes his outlook, becoming a more compassionate, nicer person and tries his best to help the people around him instead of just thinking of himself. A simple moral message perhaps, but told so well, and paced perfectly that allows for touching scenes and nice character development. The film isn't preachy, but the fact it has this lesson, which you kind of follow along with Phil, makes for a deeper experience.
I think the message of the film (in order to find happiness, Bill Murray has to change, be a nicer person and like himself) spiritual and meaningful - this surprised me because I'm not religious.
It's certainly one of my favourite films, one of the best comedies ever - and a modern American classic that I love.
Date : 2010-03-05
Summary : "Enlightenment for Dummies"
I doubt director Harold Ramis ever set out to deliberately make the perfect Zen movie, but he did. Bill Murray plays a cynical weatherman doomed to live out the same mundane day over and over again. Anyone who's ever held a regular monotonous job or been stuck in any kind of repetitive rut can identify with that, right? Plus, it's Bill Murrary, for crying out loud. He IS the Everyman. But what finally snaps him out of this `doomed' existence? One day, perhaps day 1,002, he finally tries a different attitude and decides to embrace every single moment of the day no matter how banal or excruciating (an insurance salesman!), and that shift - to embrace each moment - is what ultimately delivers him from his `hell' on Earth. It doesn't get more Zen than that. But the fact that enlightenment arrives in the form of this goofy comedy instead of some inscrutable Buddhist koan is what makes it ... perfect.
Date : 2010-02-16
Summary : A personal connection
This movie was filmed in the town where my grandmother lived (Woodstock, IL) and where I spent part of every summer for many years. For me, viewing isn't as much about the story (which is delightful), but rather, seeing The Square (the hub of commerce back then), The Band Pavilion (weekly summer band concerts to this day), The Opera House (refurbished and very nice), etc. For me, it is total personal nostalgia.
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