This year’s Groundhog Day has already come and gone, but the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day remains our pick for the one Amazon Prime Video movie that you need to watch in February. It’s not like this is a Christmas movie that immediately goes out of season after December 25th. Groundhog Day‘s namesake holiday is essentially irrelevant to the underlying story of the film. Who cares if there are six more weeks of winter when you’re doomed to relive the same day over and over again?
Screenwriter Danny Rubin carried his concept for Groundhog Day for years, and it was originally a much darker story. Director Harold Ramis ultimately co-wrote and rewrote the final script with Rubin, resulting in a comedy with some fantasy elements that still manages to have moments of drama and pathos. It also had Bill Murray in one of his most memorable roles outside the Ghostbuster movies.
Groundhog Day earned $105 million worldwide, which made it a modest hit. But its impact over the decades has gone far beyond the money it earned. This remains a fan-favorite film 32 years after its release, and that’s why we’re sharing the reasons you should watch Groundhog Day this month.
Bill Murray gives a transformative performance
Phil’s initial response to the time loop is disbelief, followed by acceptance, and then wild abandon as he lives a life free of consequences. Sometimes Phil even dies before waking up in his bed the next morning to start all over again. But eventually, Phil is overtaken by despair before he realizes that there is seemingly no way out of his endless day.
Murray and Ramis reportedly clashed over the deeper philosophical issues brought up by Groundhog Day, which strained their friendship for nearly two decades afterward. Regardless, the work they did together on this film was exceptional, and it helped transform perceptions about Murray that allowed him to take more dramatic roles.
Andie MacDowell earned her status as queen of the rom-coms
Groundhog Day was one of the first of many successful romantic comedies featuring Andie MacDowell during the ’90s, and it helped establish her as one of the best actresses in the genre. In this film, she plays Phil’s producer, Rita Hanson, and she’s not exactly charmed by Phil’s boorish behavior before the time loop. That’s why Phil has so much trouble winning Rita’s heart because, from her perspective, Phil barely knows her at all. And from his perspective, Phil knows almost everything about Rita except how to make her love him.
On one loop in particular, Phil lets Rita in on the secret and convinces her that he really is living the same day over and over. That allows Rita to offer Phil some much-needed perspective, even though it may have taken countless lifetimes for him to reach that point.
The film has an underlying message of hope
There are plenty of takeaways from Groundhog Day, but the core idea is that people can change their ways. More importantly, they can choose to be better. It takes a long time for Phil to come around to that way of thinking, as kindness was never his first instinct. But the real indicator that Phil has found his heart isn’t his romantic pursuit of Rita; it’s the way he treats the elderly homeless man (Les Podewell).
Earlier in the film, Phil has nothing but disdain for the homeless man, whose name is never mentioned. He’s simply an annoyance to Phil or someone to be avoided. Phil’s humanity doesn’t come out easily, but when it does, he befriends the homeless man with each passing day in a vain attempt to change his fate. That illustrates the limits of Phil’s power while also making him a fully realized human being. For the first time in the film, viewers get to see that Phil truly cares about someone other than himself. Phil can’t save everyone, but he’s rediscovered his soul.
We’re not going to spoil the ending of the film here, but it’s enough to say that Phil’s experience with the homeless man made him grow into someone who can be loved. The audience has witnessed Phil’s evolution, and it’s so emotionally moving that we’ve relived the days with him ever since.
Watch Groundhog Day on Prime Video.
