I watched Groundhog Day last night. For a few years I had refused to do so, thinking it annoying and repetitive. My prejudices, as always, were unfounded, and I in fact found myself over-intellectualising it to a perhaps intolerable degree. Is it not an existentialist film? He is confronted with the possibility that life is meaningless - that nothing he does, even killing himself, has any purpose or meaning and will all be forgotten the next day. What is good about the film is that it posits no explanation for what happens to him. The only remaining irritating thing is that it is by doing good that he escapes, suggesting the work of a god (helped perhaps by the occasional knowing look of the black barman). One could argue that the good he does, he does with no expectation of reward, but it is still a little too sentimental. At least, however, it doesn't get to the level of Frank Capra. Anyway, besides all this, and perhaps more importantly, Bill Murray is great. When I saw it when I was younger I must have missed a hundred and more jokes. I imagine he wrote most of them, and delivers them perfectly. Even though it's about the beginning of Spring, this is really a great Christmas movie.
Best line: 'Well what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today'.
