Groundhog Day (1993)

WHYY?? - 3/5

So I saw this film two days ago called 'Groundhog Day'. As you will know, when watching any film with Bill Murray you prepare yourself for a few laughs. While this film may have provided a fair few of them at times it still lacked direction and overall meaning. My biggest question after seeing the film was WHY??? It is to my knowledge never explained why Murray's character Phil becomes stuck in a time loop. I was expecting at least that by the end of the film he would have learned some moral lesson and we would be able to assume it was to make him a better person. Give us something to go on! I just couldn't grasp the meaning behind it at all.

Aside from the less than spectacular storyline the film did provide us with some tear jerking moments as we see Murray stuck in a seemingly endless journey of the same day, attempting to kill himself numerous times and still waking up the next morning. Bill Murray has never been an actor I have really ever empathised with but to my surprise he managed to do just that. We as an audience could feel his pain and frustration which partially made up for the lack of direction.
I would also like to mention the skill shown by the actors and actresses who had to repeat their scenes over and over but adapt them according to what Murray said or did, most notably Stephen Tobolowsky who provided us with many laughs with his character Ned.

Overall I would describe this film as over-rated. There is such hype surrounding it and I think most of this must stem from the casting of Bill Murray. However, when you look into the film you see many holes. Unlike the many unanswered questions in the TV series 'Lost', these effectively ruined the film for me. I just wanted to be told why.
Would I recommend it? If you're up for some head scratching.