Groundhog Day: Special 15th Anniversary Edition – DVD Review

Film, Reviews


Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 1993 / 101 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: January 29, 2008
List Price: $19.94 [Buy it at Amazon.com]

Director:

Harold Ramis

Starring:

Bill Murray ………. Phil Connors
Andie MacDowell ………. Rita
Chris Elliott ………. Larry
Stephen Tobolowsky ………. Ned Ryerson
Brian Doyle-Murray ………. Buster Green
Rick Ducommun ………. Gus
Rick Overton ………. Ralph
Robin Duke ………. Doris, the Waitress
Marita Geraghty ………. Nancy Taylor
Angela Paton ………. Mrs. Lancaster
David Pasquesi ………. Psychiatrist
Harold Ramis ………. Neurologist

The Movie

In the era of home entertainment certain films get a second life of their own after they leave theaters. They may have been only moderate successes in their initial runs, but then they gain a “cult” following on VHS or DVD and turn out to be more popular and respected as a result. Some films even turn into something bigger than anyone could ever imagine when it was made. So the tale goes for Groundhog Day. Fifteen years ago it was a moderate success at the box office. Today, it’s considered to be one of the funniest movies ever made, and even one with possibly unexpected spiritual significance.

In Groundhog Day, TV meteorologist Phil Connors (Bill Murray), his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell), and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) from the fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual “Groundhog Day” festivities on February 2 with that infamous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. After the celebration concludes, a blizzard develops that Connors had predicted would miss them, closing the roads and shutting down long-distance phone service, forcing him to spend an extra day in Punxsutawney. Connors awakens the next morning, however, to find it is again February 2, and the day unfolds in exactly the same way, over and over and over and over again. At first, Phil uses this to his advantage by indulging in all manner of hedonistic pursuits. But then Phil soon realizes that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing EVERY day. Phil then begins to reexamine his life and priorities.

There is no better actor to play the role of Phil Connors than Bill Murray. In one of the special features of this DVD, Harold Ramis talks about offering the part to Tom Hanks first but he couldn’t do it because of schedule conflicts. Even Tom Hanks admits that Bill Murray was better at this part than he would have been. The reason for that is everyone knows that Tom Hanks is a nice guy, so they know that Phil would have to turn back into a good guy eventually. But with Bill Murray playing Phil, you don’t get that same feeling. You have no idea if Phil will ever turn into a nice guy or not, and that’s why Bill was perfect for this part. He could easily switch between being “good Phil” and “bad Phil” and the audience is able to believe whatever character he is playing.

Just as good as Bill Murray in the Phil Connors role is Andie MacDowell in the role of Bill’s love interest, Rita. MacDowell is quite charming and has great chemistry with Murray on screen. They surprisingly pass the test for being a “romantic comedy” couple. Andie is in the passive role, but that is a good thing as Murray has enough natural comic presence and timing to lead the way. The remaining secondary characters are played by just the right people as well. From top to bottom, Harold Ramis made the right cast selections.

The premise of the film is pure fantasy and you might think that playing the same scenes over and over again would get boring quickly. But you would be wrong for the most part. The film does drag down a little bit near the beginning when it seems that one scene gets replayed a few more times than needed, but thankfully Harold Ramis recognizes when enough is enough more times than not and realizes when it’s time to progress the story. The ending of the film is slightly predictable as it can be found in almost every other light-hearted romantic comedy out there. However, the journey to get to that ending is what this film is really all about and what make this film work on many different levels.

The most intriguing part of the film is that it has become very spiritual in nature. Some people view the film as a tale of self-improvement, What would you do if you knew today would be repeated over and over again? Phil realizes that there is no tomorrow and thus there are no consequences. So he indulges himself first. But he quickly learns that is not enough to stop this never ending day. Neither is trying to kill himself. Time after time Phil gets reincarnated into the exact same position he was in to start off “Groundhog Day”. He must finally realize that he has to change himself to end this day. He has to become a better person and learn about not being selfish. Phil must learn how to make this day the best of his life by both becoming a better person, and then, and only then, will he gain the love of someone that completely resented him countless times before.

There is a big moral message to be learned here and it’s somewhat predictable once you realize what this film is all about. But the journey to the ending is extraordinary. The story is just quirky and clever enough to keep things fresh, even though there are many scenes that get repeated over and over again. This is without a doubt Bill Murray’s best film, even better than some of his latest work. Groundhog Day is both thought-provoking and funny at the same time, and fifteen years later it still has a life of its own that no one could have possibly expected.

The Video:

The video is given in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen color, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The video is really top-notch quality here. There are no major issues, and this is the best that this film has looked so far.

The Audio:

The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, French Dolby Digital 5.1. Surround sound or Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, French, and Portuguese as well. The music and dialogue come out loud and clear, so no major problems here either.

The Extras:

Audio Commentary
The director, Harold Ramis, does a full-length commentary on the film. It is both entertaining and insightful. It helps that Harold has been in comedies before as he doesn’t throw out too much information that might bore the audience. It’s a perfect balance of information and entertainment here. This is the same commentary that can be found on the previous release, though.

“A Different Day: An Interview with Harold Ramis” Featurette
This is exactly what it says. It’s a new 10 minute interview with the director, Harold Ramis, about the movie, the people in it, and the movie’s lasting impact on society and the film world. He even answers a few questions that everybody wants to know the answers to.

“The Study of Groundhogs: A Real Life Look at Marmots” Featurette
This is a new featurette that runs 6 minutes. College professors take you into the real world of the groundhogs. Their name as an entire species is marmots. Groundhogs or woodchucks are a kind of a marmot. This is certainly unique and informative. If you want to know all about groundhogs, here is the place to go.

“The Weight of Time” Documentary
This is a 24 minute “making of” documentary. It can be found on the previous release of the movie. It’s your pretty standard “making of” piece. However, this documentary does allow the screenwriter some time to tell the audience what his vision of the movie would have been. The original concept of Groundhog Day was far darker than the final film, so that’s interesting to learn.

Deleted Scenes
There are five deleted scenes and they for a total of five minutes. Nothing that you should go out of the way to see. As a whole, they are neither funny nor needed. It’s easy to see why they didn’t make the final movie, but if you want to see them they are there.

THE INSIDE PULSE

There are a couple of new special features for this special anniversary edition of Groundhog Day. Bill Murray is still not included in the special features so that’s a disappointment for sure. Not sure the “extras” this time around are enough to warrant another purchase of this movie if you already have it in your collection, but the film looks the best it has ever looked so take that into consideration. If you haven’t seen this movie, go rent it and watch it now. If you don’t have this movie in your collection yet, go buy this version of it. You will like it and you will want to watch it again and again.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Groundhog Day: Special 15th Anniversary Edition
CONTENT

9
THE VIDEO

8
THE AUDIO

8
SUPPLEMENTS

7
REPLAY VALUE

8
OVERALL
9
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!