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Groundhog Day – Reviewed by Doug Boilesen

I could watch this movie again and again. In fact, I have. Bill Murray is terrific as Phil Conners, the ill-tempered weatherman, who goes to Pugsatawny, Pennsylvania each year to cover the Groundhog story, i.e., will he see his shadow? Phil doesn't want to be there and much to his surprise he wakes up the next day (forced to spend the night because of a snow storm) and discovers it's Groundhog Day again. Each morning his clock radio goes off and Phil begins the day with Sonny and Cher singing "I got you, Babe". This is a great romantic-comedy, well-written with my favorite performances by Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. For Phil, February 2 is stuck and its very entertaining, easily in my all-time top ten.

Hearing the song "I got you, Babe" is a good example of the stickiness of music to an event or movie scene or (to the advertisers delight) to an ad. It's the young lover's "Our Song" concept. It's that immediate connection between hearing the William Tell Overture and the Lone Ranger or George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" as the signature sound of "United Airlines." And now for me, when I hear "I got you, Babe" it's a a trigger to Groundhog Day.

This should be a movie that every family makes a holiday tradition to watch on February 2 just like watching "It's a Wonderful Life" during Christmas holidays. Highly recommended.

Groundhog Day Copywrite (C) 1993 Columbia Pictures