I probably should have heard of this film before, but I only have a vague notion that I may have heard it prior to the week before I actually watched this movie. I liked Christmas Do Over and the concept is pretty similar except that it’s not taking place on Christmas. Groundhog Day is significantly funnier than the last few films that I’ve seen, but it also manages to fall into more film holes than the others.

The plot involves a man named Phil Connors and he’s (not) excited about the big Groundhog Day celebration. He covers it every year for the news, but he doesn’t enjoy it. Two other characters by the names of Rita and Larry are coming to assist him. Phil avoids them and get through most of the day, but then he finds out that the blizzard (Which he predicted would not happen in this area) has blocked his only way out of town. Phil goes to bed with a heavy start and begins his infinite loop inside of the day. He doesn’t have any reality superpowers so getting out of this loop will take every bit of skill that Phil has. Will his best be enough to end this crisis? That’s what the film asks the audience as it unfolds.

“Phil……Phil Connors!” is the main character and I love the way that Ned yells his name. Phil is definitely someone who you can root for at first. He’s very sarcastic and he spends most of his time mocking the other characters and being a bad sport about everything. He doesn’t like the hotel and he doesn’t like the coffee. Phil can barely hold in his contempt for the actual Groundhog Day Celebration and he lowers his comrades’ spirit whenever he can. After that, his true character bubbles to the surface and I can safely say that it ruined his character.

I liked Phil at first, but then he used his time travel as a way to make false relationships and add unnecessary romance to the story. That really makes him no better than guys like James Bond and Captain James T. Kirk. Phil couldn’t really redeem himself after that because he simply went way too far. Phil is one of those characters who has some good traits, but it destined to remain in my “awful characters” section along with Kamina. They have the potential to be likable characters and then throw it out of the window for their own personal desires. It’s not worth it and they realized this too late. At least I can always smile at the memory of Phil punching out Ned….Ned Ryerson!

Ned…..Ned Ryerson is the best character in the film and he’s someone that you don’t mess with. He always laughs at the misfortune of others and he’s very good at being an insurance employee. He put the pressure on Phil and he didn’t back down as things got tough. At the same time, he knew when it was time to get out of there and make a new plan. I won’t be forgetting Ned anytime soon and his name is just plain epic. It’s why I loved the banter between him and Phil. Both of them would use each other’s full name in fake surprise during greetings.

Rita is the main heroine and she’s a decent character at best. It’s probably rough to have to work with someone like Phil. She doesn’t do extremely well because Phil has the time advantage, but she still could have looked better. She shouldn’t be doing anything with Phil since it’s only been a day and they got too buddy buddy in other times. She should at least be suspicious for a few more days after Phil’s big change in personality. As a supporting character she is okay, but the romance between her and Phil is unnecessary at best and cringe worthy at worst. I almost wanted Larry to get more screen time…almost.

Larry actually doesn’t look that bad at first, but they his character quickly starts to fizzle out. He suddenly becomes the comic relief character and he just wants to make some new friends. That was a pretty unnecessary addition to the film and I don’t know why they bothered to add it. I liked him when Larry was snacking on desserts and insulting the main character behind his back. He should have stuck to that role.

There are certainly more characters in the film, but this is essentially the main cast. The lady in the hotel who always offered Phil coffee was cool. She went straight to the point and she was always polite despite Phil’s unfriendly approach to everything. The actual groundhog was pretty fun and he’s a solid driver. There were many other characters sprinkled throughout the film, but their roles were not very monumental and I’m sure that they will fade over time.

One of the major flaws with the film is the abundance of unnecessary romance. Why did one of the citizens be so eager to have a one night stand with an old (fake) classmate? How could the no nonsense Rite quickly get tricked into romance? It was all very forced and it certainly didn’t do any wonders for the film. The romance wasn’t ridiculously long, but there were more scenes of it than I’ve seen in a film for a long time. Each scene gradually lowered the enjoyment value of the film until I cheered as the real plot took over (temporarily) and got rid of the romance. Those romance scenes are the different between a great comedy film and one that forgot its place.

There isn’t much of a soundtrack for this film, but the songs are there. It can just be tough to notice them, but the radio song is another matter. We heard it quite a few times and the song is definitely catchy. I never really expect a big soundtrack for any live action movies, much less a comedy one. That being said, it’s always a pleasant surprise to have any that I can remember after it is over.

Phil ended up living through the cycle for over 6 months and possibly a whole year or longer. That’s pretty intense and it would have been pretty scary to keep going on forever. I do think that the movie ends a little too happily and there aren’t really any big twists. I believe that the film could have used a few of those and it would have been that much better. Just ending on a twist would have been a nice change of pace for me.

We do get treated to a pair of car chase scenes when Phil is having one of his episodes. The drive with the Groundhog started off in a great way, but then things went sour quickly. This film did not need a mild case of animal violence on its shoulders as well. It’s very mild because the death is quick and we don’t see it, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Groundhog didn’t make it. That was unnecessary.

Overall, Groundhog Day was one of the funniest films that I’ve seen in a long time. The humor was pretty solid and Phil really stole the show with his facial expressions and one liners. If Phil and Rita had not been such unlikable characters by the end, then the film could have done better. Taking away their romance and the other romance scenes would have made the film be a lot closer to a masterpiece. This is a good film if you’re looking for a solid comedy, but the romance really does drag it down. Instead, I recommend watching Christmas Do Over at the plot is very similar, but it takes place on Christmas. A nice twist if I do say so myself. One thing that I give the film credit for is the fact that Phil decides to eat as much as he can because the food won’t hurt him the next day. Brilliant.

Overall 4/10