‘Phil? Phil Connors? Phil Connors from “Groundhog Day?” Playing this week at Sundance Cinemas Madison?’
I haven’t minced words on my objections to Sundance’s “Classics” films, particularly as of late. Madison’s premiere exhibitor has been on a questionable string of 80s comedies in recent weeks, especially considering that any number of older, arguably more significant titles spring to mind before Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Even if I could argue until I’m blue in the face over whether The Princess Bride is worthy of such inclusion, titles like Big and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off remain fun diversions from the usual multiplex fare. And no “Classics” selection in recent memory may be more fun than this week’s selection, Harold Ramis’ 1993 dry comedy, Groundhog Day.
Bill Murray plays blasé weather man Phil Connors, an unappreciative egotist in the vein of Richard Donner’s title character in Scrooged (another terrific Murray performance). Sour from his ambitions to one day join a big-league news team, Phil’s visit to Punxatawney, Pennsylvania to cover the groundhog’s seasonal habits goes from begrudging annual coverage to an eternal recurrence. For reasons unexplained, Phil finds himself waking to the sounds of Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” and the excited pronouncements of Punxatawney’s radio personalities, forced to relive the 2nd of February over and over and over again.
The real fun comes from watching Murray and his fresh-faced news producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) embellish each relived day with two wildly different performances. Once Phil catches on to his monotonous limbo, he tries to maximize value from his predicament, joyriding away from police cars, lifting cash from armored trucks and even hooking up with lovelorn high school sweethearts that never were. Director Harold Ramis structures these moments in rapid succession, allowing the viewer to become so familiar with Phil’s never-ending routine that Ramis can skip to the goods. Piling altered scene on top of altered scene is a master class in repetition and variation, and it’s a blast to see Phil work around the “obstacles” that stand in the way of his borderline sociopathic wooing of Rita. MacDowell has the more thankless task of bringing to each of these revisited sequences a dependable familiarity with occasional hints of déjà vu. Wait, did I already say that?
Once he’s exhausted all of his selfish impulses, the picture takes a darker turn when Phil attempts to take his own life — and staying true to form, making many attempts. The numbing mundanity however begets more laughs and eventually a zen-like transcendence not unlike Ron Livingston’s arc in Office Space. Now how’s that for a double-bill, Sundance?
- Groundhog Day plays at Sundance Cinemas Madison Wednesday, Feburary 5th at 1:40p and 6:55p