January 30, 2012 5:55 PM
Groundhog Day - see the movie!
For the past 19 years, February 2 has been one of our family's favorite holidays. No, we've never been to Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney or seen old Punxsutawney Phil - the groundhog with the all-important shadow - in person.
I keep promising we'll do it next year. If anyone out there reading MommyLife goes, please send us a firsthand account.
Punxsutawnians have been celebrating Groundhog Day since 1886. We started celebrating in 1994 when we fell in love with the movie Groundhog Day
If you've never seen this hilarious film, you really need to. And if you've seen it before, you probably need to see it again. Its positive message, catchy soundtrack, and laugh-out-loud humor have made it one of our yearly family rituals.
To see what reviewers thought, check it out at rottentomatoes.com, where Groundhog Day, rated PG (back before PG was sleaze galore), racked up a very impressive 96%.
Groundhog Day is the story of a small-potatoes Pennsylvania weatherman named Phil - yeah, like the groundhog - played by Bill Murray. With his unfulfilled dreams of hitting the big time, Phil is a jaded, caustic narcissist, disgusted with his Groundhog Day assignment - traveling for the third year in a row to cover the events in Punxsutawney. With him are his radiant new producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and nebbishy cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott).
Phil's contempt for everything and everyone around him are almost palpable. He can't wait to wrap the show and get out of Hicksville. But a blizzard keeps them from getting out of town.
The next day Phil wakes up to the same tune playing on the radio (Sonny and Cher's "I Got You, Babe"), the same morning anchor chitchat. He looks out the window and sees the same snowless scene he saw the day before.
And so begins Phil's nightmare, trapped in an endless repetition of Groundhog Day, though he's the only one who knows. Phil journeys through disbelief, frustration, opportunism, suicidal despair (and even that's funny) before he realizes that he is the one responsible for his misery. His liberation comes when he finally decides to make the most of every moment by caring for others, and in so doing begins to make himself a better man and the world a better place.
But just because it has a decent story line, don't think it won't be one of the funniest movies you ever saw.
For our family, this ranks right just under It's a Wonderful Life in the family film pantheon.
Comments
We LOVE this movie as it is a story of redemption and GETTING IT RIGHT--meaning learning about how to really love. I had first heard about it on Al Kresta's list of great movies and I thought "Bill Murray????" Besides all this we do realize that February 2nd is actually the feast of the Presentation......
Posted by: Jan | January 30, 2012 7:37 PM
