Groundhog Day »

Ryan Gilbey writes on film for the Independent, the Guardian, and Sight and Sound and is author of It Don't Worry Me (2004).

It is becoming clearer and clearer that Groundhog Day (1993), directed by Harold Ramis, is one of the masterpieces of 1990s Hollywood cinema. One of the first films to use a science-fiction premise as the basis for romantic comedy, it tells the story of a splenetic TV weatherman, Phil Connors (Bill Murray at his disreputable best), who finds himself indefinitely repeating one drab day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The film is a deeply ambivalent fable: before he finds redemption Phil must plumb the depths of suicidal despair—and even after he has survived this, there are no guarantees that he will live happily ever after.

Ryan Gilbey begins his account of Groundhog Day with the long and unlucky gestation of the script by Danny Rubin, who was interviewed for this book. Gilbey celebrates the inspired casting of Murray, Andie MacDowell, and less well-known actors such as Stephen Tobolowsky. In a subtle analysis, he unpacks the film's remarkable blend of humor and melancholy, revealing Groundhog Day to be a rare beast—a mainstream Hollywood comedy that grows richer with each repeat viewing.