Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #751 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-02-18
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Collector's Edition, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Italian
• Subtitled in: Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Portuguese, Hungarian, Italian, French, German, Turkish, Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Danish, Dutch, English, Hebrew, Spanish, Hindi, Bulgarian, Polish, Swedish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Decent, lighthearted and fully amusing slapstick is hard to come by these days, and 1993's Groundhog Day manages to also be genuinely wise about the human condition. All this and belly laughs too! Bill Murray stars as Phil, a bored, petulant news reporter, who is ordered to give his annual live report from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 2. Though desperate to get out of the one-horse town and the appallingly sentimental assignment, Phil finds himself reliving the same day over and over again until he finally mends his ways. The film takes an absurd situation and explores its every imaginable comic possibility. Because none of the other characters are aware that Groundhog Day is continually repeating itself, Phil goes through a repertoire of responses, from conniving lust for Rita (Andie MacDowell) to gleeful nihilism to a Zen resignation worthy of Buster Keaton. Murray is reliably good, and this flick gives him a chance to be warm (though never fuzzy).

Amazon.co.uk Review
Bill Murray does warmth in Groundhog Day, a romantic fantasy about a wacky weatherman forced to relive one strange day over and over again, until he gets it right. Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to watch the famous groundhog encounter his shadow, Murray falls into a time warp that is never explained but pays off so richly that it doesn't need to be. Director Harold Ramis (who co-starred with Murray in Ghostbusters) takes an absurd situation and explores its every imaginable comic possibility. The elaborate loop-the-loop plot structure cooked up by screenwriter Danny Rubin is crystal-clear every step of the way, but it is Murray's world-class reactive timing that makes the jokes explode, and we end up looking forward to each new variation. Because none of the other characters are aware that Groundhog Day is continually repeating itself, Murray goes through a repertoire of responses, from conniving lust for Rita (Andie MacDowell) to gleeful nihilism to a Zen resignation worthy of Buster Keaton. Groundhog Day manages the rare feat of producing belly laughs in abundance and also being genuinely wise about the human condition. --David Chute, Amazon.com

On the DVD: the disc presents the movie in a 1.85:1 ratio and with Dolby surround sound. There are trailers for Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters and Multiplicity, along with filmographies for Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Andie McDowell and Chris Elliot. This remastered edition also comes with an extended documentary "The Weight of Time", which offers insights into the "European"-style script and production difficulties, but is a little over-lavish in its praise of the actors on set. Thought-provokingly, the documentary also touches upon the spiritual nature of the movie and what it has meant to an audience beyond being a simple comedy. Also included here is a director’s commentary by Ramis which, although informative, has too many long breaks and would surely have benefited from the addition of Bill Murray to the conversation. --Nikki Disney

Special Features
Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
Region 2

Customer Reviews

"Do You Ever Have Deja Vu?" "Did You Just Ask Me That?"
Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is a self-absorbed weatherman in Pittsburg who is obsessed with moving to a larger market. As part of his job, he goes every year to Pitsatony to cover the groundhog festivities on February 2nd. This year, he is going with his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and camera guy Larry (Chris Elliot). He can't wait to get home, but a blinding snowstorm makes it impossible for them to leave.

The next morning, Phil wakes up to discover that it isn't the next morning. And no matter what he does, every morning he wakes up to find it is February 2nd. Slowly, he begins to learn from his mistakes and do thing differently. But will he ever get out of this repetitive repetition?

After hearing this movie praised for years, I finally got a chance to see it. And I enjoyed it. There are lots of very funny moments as Phil deals with his predicament. His reactions near the beginning are priceless. And there is a very heartwarming message underneath it all.

However, I did find it got old before the movie was over. And there are some very dark scenes that felt out of place for the comedy it was supposed to be.

Those are minor issues, however. So if you've missed this movie, get it today and enjoy it over and over and over and over again.

Sharp sublime comedy classic
Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) stars as Phil Connors, a weatherman sent to record the events of Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, only to wake up everyday to see Groundhog Day repeating itself over and over again.

This 1993 comedy drama from director Harold Ramis tells the story of a man who is lost in time, and in himself and is the perfect example of why Bill Murray is recognized as one of the finest comedy actors in modern cinema.

Murray's portrayal of weatherman Phil Connors makes this film funny, with superb sarcasm to the witty weatherman and plenty of fantastic facial expressions to make Murray an absolute delight to watch in one of his most established roles to date.

MacDowell (Four weddings and a funeral) delivers well in her role as producer Rita and though the performances are sublime, it is the writing and humour that make this film a true comedy classic.

With a fairly simple plot, it is remarkable how complex the ideologies of the story work, with issues regarding life and death, love and lust all encoded for dramatic and comedic effect.

The film also begs the question as to what we would do, if nothing we did affected the outcome of the world. A chance to explore everything, and take wild chances without ever being affected, is something everyone would want to experience.

Filled with humour, the plot does take a few dramatic turns as well, which will make you feel sad, and really associate with the central protagonist.

The ending is wonderful and open, to have the audience invited in to ask plenty of questions, which adds to the enjoyment of the story.

The settings are well established, and provide great shocking entertainment throughout, and everything about Groundhog Day is truly remarkable.

A sharp plot helped along by comic and dramatic twists and turns with some great performances add up to one of the funniest comedies of recent times

9/10

The film whose title entered the language
Do you admit to the shame you experience after watching the average Hollywood feel-good movie? A hundred minutes of junk food for the eyes is laid out before us, including a plot that is predictable, dialogue that is unconvincing, and characterisation that is anorexic. Why do we put ourselves through it? Perhaps for the same reason that we eat genuine junk food; there are times when only that will do. (It is also possible that nothing else happens to be available.)

Just once in a blue moon, however, one of these films transcends the genre. You will have your own favourite in this category, but for me, Groundhog Day is a movie that polishes up into a real gem with no effort at all. I have watched it more times than I care to say, and my sense that the screenplay conceals a carefree and worthwhile spirituality has increased with every viewing. (Groundhog Day is also funny.)

On one level, the film is simply about Mr Nasty turning into Mr Nice Guy. Phil (played memorably by Bill Murray) is a fast-talking weather-man who has no time for losers, which in his eyes includes the majority of the planet. He is self-absorbed, insensitive and ambitious. Whilst on location to report on Phil (sic) the Groundhog predicting the coming of Spring, he enters a curious time loop. It appears that some Higher Power has decreed he must wake at six every morning in the same bed, to the same radio banter, to be followed by the same breakfast chitchat and so on. Phil must relive 2nd of February, Groundhog Day, time and time again until - until what? Until he gets it right?

We never learn how many times the day is rerun - a million times might be an underestimate. Phil begins in bewilderment, before working out that if the day starts afresh each morning, he is freed from any moral responsibilities. This life of abandon palls, however. Instead, he falls in love with Rita (Andie McDowell). Although his day restarts each morning, he is allowed to carry over any skills or facts that he has learnt in previous days, and this offers him all sorts of information that can be used in Rita's seduction. Yet she rumbles Phil every time by seeing through his manipulative techniques, perhaps because her life possesses a purity that protects her and fascinates him.

Condemned like Sisyphus to the eternal round, Phil decides to commit suicide. This turns out to be harder than one might think: he still awakes at six each morning in the same bed. Slowly Phil is forced to ask deeper questions. He begins to take in interest in others, and attempts to understand those he has previously dismissed as small-town hicks. His omniscience (for the conditions of his imprisonment means that he can indeed know everything about anyone in the town) enables him to carry out enormous good in the course of that one day. And he still loves that woman...

So is this Phil-meets-Rita, Rita-says-no, Phil-changes, Rita-says-yes story really theological dynamite? I would humbly argue that Groundhog Day could be the profoundest study of purgatory that Hollywood has ever produced. (Those who have been forced to sit through Raiders of the Lost Ark might disagree.) Phil does try to convey to those around him what is happening in his life, but he cannot. He finds himself placed in spiritual country where he is completely alone, and it is there where the profoundest theology is written. And it is love that redeems him. Is that corny? Is not the Christian belief that life is in some deep sense `feel-good' at the end of it all? Maybe we should think not only of the man who was resurrected in three days, but of Phil, the man who managed that every 24 hours.