Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is a comedy film starring Bill Murray as Phil Connors: an arrogant, self-centered weather forecaster trapped in a time loop in a small town, forcing him to keep reliving February 2 (the U.S. holiday Groundhog Day).

His story begins as he's assigned a new (and very pretty) producer, played by Andie MacDowell, who chooses him to cover the Groundhog Day festival in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois).

## Contents

* 1 Responses to his existential quandary
* 2 Reflections on eternity
* 3 Commentary
* 4 Links

## Responses to his existential quandary[edit]

At first, he's disbelieving. Next, he lapses (further, if one can believe it) into selfish behavior, learning everything he can about each person he meets so he can exploit them for his own benefit. He seduces a girl, robs an armored car, overeats (with no risk of getting fat).

Then he tires of the sameness and tries to kill himself, a ploy which works but doesn't work. Not even death ends the cycle, because he always wakes up "the next day" at 6:00 A.M. to the irritating strains of Sonny and Cher singing "I've Got You, Babe" on his clock radio.

Something (or Someone?) has got him. What can he possibly do?

## Reflections on eternity[edit]

Many have speculated on how long the director and screenwriter have Phil live the same day. Consider that he learns to play classical and jazz piano, as well as ice-sculpting, so we're probably talking decades, not years.

## Commentary[edit]

* "It's about doing things in the moment to make things better, instead of making things worse." (from the DVD extras)
* Romance: "He tries to look like a guy in love."
* Harold Ramis: "He stops worrying about himself, and starts living a life of service."

Director Harold Ramis says he got comments from all sorts of religious people saying that the movie encapsulated their philosophy: Buddhists, a yogi, Jesuits, fundamentalist Christians.

## Links[edit]

* "Enough or Jesus" (Laetere 2010) from a Lutheran blog