‘Groundhog Day’ shadows holiday
Title: Groundhog Day
Starring: Bill Murray
Director: Harold Ramis
Grade: C
Yearning for an opportunity to brighten his career as a weatherman, Bill Murray’s unappreciative character, Phil Connors, is cynical about venturing off to Punxsutawney, Pa., to witness the groundhog and the historic shadow ceremony.
He finds the assignment redundant and elementary for his level of talent and warns his fellow co-workers that they will be seeing him at a more prestigious news station in the near future.
Eager to leave Punxsutawney before the ceremony even begins, Connors soon finds himself trapped in a time-warped, ironic nightmare. Although he had already lived through the dreaded Groundhog Day ceremony once, the entire town was excited to learn if winter would be sticking around or if mild spring temperatures would be around the corner, morning after morning.
Connors was the only character involved in the time warp, which forced his character to learn more about others, predict future happenings, allowed him to act uninhibited and break the law.
After a few days of causing trouble and being rude to the locals, Connors changes his outlook and decides to use his time warp as an opportunity to help others.
Connors was declared a “glass-half-empty man” by a character he met while having a drink in the bar in the beginning of the movie. By the end of the film, Connors had gone through many life-altering experiences with those around him and was transformed into a “glass-half-full man.”
Although “Groundhog Day” had a decent ending, the middle of the film was redundant causing much of the humor to slip through the cracks. The film gives little to no history on Punxsutawney’s beloved Groundhog Day, and instead, mainly focuses on the foul attitude of Connors and the reaction of the other characters.
If intentions to learn more about the Groundhog Day ceremony were important to viewers, they will be utterly disappointed to hear of no factual information on the history of the day or the infamous Pennsylvanian town Punxsutawney.
“ Groundhog Day” overlooks the title and transforms into a repeat of one boring day after another and finally into a romantic comedy in the end.