Yesterday Is Here

Groundhog Day (1993)

Rating: PG

Runtime: 101 minutes

Box Office (in today’s dollars): 116 million (approximately)

Characters: Phil Connors, Rita Hanson, Larry, Ned Ryerson, Nancy Taylor, Buster Green, Fred, Debbie, Punxsutawney Phil

Favorite Quote: “Watch out for that first step, it’s a doozy.”

Favorite Scene: Phil kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil

Favorite Character: Phil Connors

Other need-to-see nineties movies directed by Harold Ramis: none

Bill Murray at his finest!! His transition from sarcastic to grumpy to happy is what makes this movie so funny. I don’t think anyone else could have played it better. There are some other solid characters in the movie: Rita, who loves a sweet vermouth on the rocks with a twist, is a woman worth getting to know better, and Ned Ryerson is definitely a man you would want to avoid if you saw him walking in your direction. But be careful crossing the street in an attempt to get away from him, because that first step is a doozy!! The scene where Phil finally snaps and kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil is brilliant. Bill Murray in a truck driven by a groundhog ... pure genius!!

This movie tackles a topic that is pretty interesting: what would you do if you kept living the same day over and over again?? Would you do good ... or bad?? Phil’s first intentions are bad: he robs a bank truck and tricks (?) two women into falling for him. He then becomes less harmful, when after several viewings of Jeopardy! wows a room by getting all the questions right. By the end he is doing nothing but good; he masters the art of flipping cards into a hat, tries to help a homeless man, learns to play the piano and how to ice sculpt, catches a kid that falls out of a tree, fixes an old woman’s flat tire, performs the Heimlich maneuver on a man in a restaurant, and buys Fred and Debbie two tickets to WrestleMania.

Two of my favorite little details in the movie are that after Phil finally changes his life and decides to do good things for people without wanting anything back, we find out that his life is worth exactly $339.88, which is what Rita pays for him at the charity bachelor auction. The other thing is when Phil is reading Rita poetry to keep her awake, one of the poems he reads her is Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees”. I only caught this detail this last time because I recently attended a workshop taught by my friend Amber. I guess it is a pretty famous poem, so thanks Amber for teaching me something!!

Next movie to review: Jurassic Park