February 5, 2004
IF ONLY ANDIE MACDOWELL COULD ACT:
The greatest story ever told?: A 1993 romantic comedy starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell is being hailed by religious leaders as the most spiritual film of all time. (Andrew Buncombe, 02 February 2004, The Independent)
Today, the people of Punxsutawney will be holding their heads as high as any. For the 117th consecutive year the people of this small town will hold aloft a small, rat-like creature and, by its subsequent behaviour, seek to forecast the weather. Records suggest that the forecasters usually get the prediction correct, but either way the town's Groundhog Day has become world famous, and tens of thousands of people will flock to this part of Pennsylvania to participate in it.Much of that has to do with the success of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray as a brash TV weatherman who is dispatched to Punxsutawney to cover the annual festival. Yet the movie has achieved far more than simply luring crowds to a Pennsylvanian town - what is usually described as a romantic comedy has become a crucial teaching tool for various religions and spiritual groups, who see it as a fable of redemption and reincarnation that matches anything that Fred could tell me at the bar.
"At first I would get mail saying, 'Oh, you must be a Christian because the movie so beautifully expresses Christian belief'," the film's director Harold Ramis recently told The New York Times. "Then rabbis started calling from all over, saying they were preaching the film as their next sermon. And the Buddhists! Well, I knew they loved it because my mother-in-law has lived in a Buddhist meditation centre for 30 years and my wife lived there for five years."
Even this appreciation underestimates the film's greatness.
MORE:
-Living News: Your spiritual guide . . . Bill Murray? (Nancy Haught, 02/02/04, Oregon Live)
THINGS TO PONDER IF VIEWING FILMIf you decide to watch "Groundhog Day," here are five questions that might spark a spirited and spiritual discussion:
Where do you see yourself in this film? What aspect of it connects with your life experience?
Do you see any parallels with your own religious tradition?
What do you think is the turning point in the film, the place where understanding begins to dawn on Bill Murray's character?
What do you think is the big question that this movie asks?
If you were to live one day over and over again in order to learn a lesson, what day would it be?
-THE PFCC CRITICS' BEST OF 2003 AWARDS! (PROMONTORY FILM CRITICS CIRCLE)
-STAUBTHOUGHTS: Meaning In 2004 Best Pictures (Staublog 01/28/04)
-My Top Ten Movies of 2003 (James Bowman, January 5, 2004, The New York Sun) Posted by Orrin Judd at February 5, 2004 1:23 PM
Filmed in my old hometown, Woodstock, IL. Even met the director, Harold Ramis, who visited my school for sight selection. Practically the whole town mobbed the stars for autographs. Note: Bill Murray is a really nice guy.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at February 5, 2004 1:36 PMTotally concur, OJ. My favorite.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at February 5, 2004 1:38 PM"What About Bob" and "Rushmore" are two other Bill Murray gems.
And, as an aside, did anyone actually like "Lost in Translation"?
Posted by: Neil at February 5, 2004 1:48 PMMark Styen did. "The leads and the movie should all get Oscars."
http://www.steynonline.com/index2.cfm?edit_id=26 and scroll down
Posted by: Jorge at February 5, 2004 2:43 PMRushmore was great. Not too impressed with "Bob." Quick Change is probably Murray's best movie that was ignored.
I liked Lost in Translation a lot. But I think having lived in Japan for a bit myself made the movie more nostalgic for me than the general audience.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at February 5, 2004 3:06 PMThe ironic thing about "Groundhog Day" is that given the background of most of the major actors, writers and directors -- coming from "The National Lampoon Radio Hour," "Satuday Night Live," "SCTV" and "Late Night With David Letterman" -- you would have expected cynicsm to be revered based on the point of view of all those shows. Instead it's Murray's cynisism at the outset of the movie that is taken to task by the filmmakers (which makes me think a lot of their 1970s and 80s comedic cynisism was in part a protective shield for people who were more idealists at heart, but wanted to precent a more hardened and "hipper" face to the realities of the world).
Posted by: John at February 5, 2004 4:03 PMAnyone who likes the film should check out the 1988 novel Replay by Ken Grimwood. It's about a guy who dies at 43 in 1988, then wakes up in his 18-year-old body in 1963, lives his adult life over but dies again in 1988 and wakes up in 1963, etc. Sort of Groundhog Day but over 25 years. The larger timespan means there's much more about history, culture, government, etc., but it doesn't slight the psychological/spiritual aspects that Groundhog Day covers. And not to spoil anything, but what if he's not the only person in this situation? *Highly* recommended.
Posted by: PapayaSF at February 5, 2004 5:32 PMThere's also Kurtwood Smith (Red on That 70's Show) in "12:01 PM" which was a short on Showtime or HBO I think. Certainly not a happy ending in that one though.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at February 5, 2004 6:35 PMSpot on (including your hed about Andie Macdowell). Murray is a terrific actor, unfortunately his brilliance has often been overshadowed by flaws in the movies he's been in. For an extreme example of this, go back and watch the scenes in the otherwise atrocious "Meatballs" (I'm not joking) where it's just Bill and the kid who doesn't want to be at camp.
Posted by: Carter at February 6, 2004 12:09 AMIF ONLY ANDIE MACDOWELL COULD ACT
I never noticed
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 6, 2004 12:55 AMAnd all these years that I've been preaching to my family and friends that this is the best comedy ever made, I've been taken for a crank. OK well I am a crank. But, nonetheless I was an accurate crank.
Posted by: Ray Clutts at February 6, 2004 8:59 PM