Johnny California: GROUNDHOG DAY

 by JB

Can we count how many modern comedies owe a debt of gratitude to this film’s priceless premise?

Shout out to friend of the site Ross Reader, who made me aware of this timely Fathom Event last weekend and even accompanied me to the screening and held my cane and drool bucket while I gorged myself on overpriced movie snacks!

NOTE: An earlier draft of this column featured the author continually re-starting the column in a lame and obvious attempt to ape the structure of the movie. Ha! My gentle readers can thank God that, at the last minute, I quite literally WOKE UP and came to my senses, respecting the readers' intelligence and sensibly removing this hackneyed horse shit.

I was surprised that this Fathom Event started... with a commercial for Fathom Events. A bunch of actors portrayed the types of "regular people" who might be drawn to a Fathom Event screening, including:

1. A romantic young couple that prefers old movies “on the big screen.”

2. A hipster doofus on a scooter confessing that seeing movies with other people made him feel less lonely and Fathom Events screenings were better than staying home stacking beanies and alphabetizing a fridge full of microbrew beers.

3. A bunch of cosplayers representing a baffling combination of comics-based, science-fiction, and horror movies love to “do things together as a group” somewhere besides Generic Anime Girl's living room.

4. A group of face-painted football hooligans extolling the "snacks and treats" and the fact that they "didn't have to clean up after their friends." (Sorry, but Fathom Events cannot provide you with better friends.)

The commercial was well produced and peppy, but it needs to be shown on commercial television! Then it might have a chance at convincing viewers who had never been to a Fathom Events screening to try attending one. Why are they showing this in the theater before a Fathom Events screening? We’re already here. We bought a ticket. You’re preaching to the choir! We need to convert the masses.

Thank goodness for Fathom Events, which allowed me to see this modern classic on the big screen.

I must confess that I had not seen Groundhog Day for a very long time, so revisiting it was a lot of fun. This is very clever comedy that fully utilizes the talents of Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott, and the writing and directing talents of Harold Ramis. I am not sure if this merry band realized it at the time of production, but they would produce a terrific, thoughtful comedy film with a premise that has since been ripped off more times than I can count.

The Plot in Brief: Tragically hip, self-involved weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) reluctantly covers the annual Ground Day ceremonies in Punxsutawney, PA for a Pittsburgh television station. He is accompanied by fledgling producer Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott). After a sudden blizzard strands the trio in Punxsutawney, Phil finds himself suddenly re-living the same day over and over, with hilarious and life-changing results.

The more I thought about it, the more I remembered other films that seem to owe a debt of gratitude to Groundhog Day’s ingenious “time loop” narrative structure: 50 First Dates (2004), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Happy Death Day (2017), Palm Springs (2020), and Meet Cute (2022) all explore similar territory. These films were made in a time frame that lets us imagine their filmmakers being floored by Groundhog Day as impressionable teens and either paying homage to it or shamelessly ripping it off, depending how charitable one wants to be about this kind of thing. (Groundhog Day was itself accused of plagiarizing sci-fi author Richard A. Lupoff’s 1973 short story 12:01 PM, and/or the eponymous 1990 short film that story inspired; but no legal action was ever taken.)

NOTE: An earlier draft of this column featured the author continually re-starting the column in a lame and obvious attempt to ape the structure of the movie. Ha! My gentle readers can thank God that, at the last minute, I quite literally WOKE UP and came to my senses, respecting the readers' intelligence and sensibly removing this hackneyed horse shit.

There is a debate among fans of the film about just how long Phil Connors spends in his “time loop.” The studio thought it was about two weeks. A “fanboy estimate,” (which used the equation that it takes at least 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything multiplied by the number of “expert loops” in the film) to suggest that Phil spent nearly 34 years trapped in the loop. Original screenwriter Danny Rubin estimated that Phil was trapped in February 2nd for 70 or 80 years. Writer/director Harold Ramis originally said it was about ten years, but shortly before his death revised his estimate to 10,000 years. Yikes! I remember when that interview was first published; Ramis’s second estimate really makes one view Groundhog Day in a different light.

At this most recent screening, I was surprised by how affecting I found some of the film’s more melodramatic and sentimental touches. I found the subplot involving the homeless man and Phil’s efforts to “save him” much more emotionally rich than I ever had before. I was even moved by the scene where Bill Murray performs the Heimlich on Punxsutawney Mayor Buster Green, knowing Green was played by Murray’s real-life brother Brian—it seemed so sweet. Andie MacDowell’s performance in the film is a marvel. She is an angel and her character and commitment help to sell the story of Bill Murray’s redemption. As a retired teacher, I found one of the biggest laughs at my most recent screening in the climactic banquet scene. Bill Murray is shown jamming with the band; he’s a piano virtuoso because he’s been practicing for somewhere between two weeks and ten thousand years. His piano teacher proudly tells Andie MacDowell, “He’s my student!”

And yes, no matter how many times you see this movie, Stephen Tobolowsky is a hoot as nerdy insurance salesman Ned Ryerson.

FYI: I was surprised by the lack of a Ben Mankiewicz introduction for this “Big Screen Classic,” so when I returned home, I did some canoodling on the Fathom Events website. Apparently, Fathom has severed all ties with Turner Classic Movies. It’s the end of an era. (Era.) Fathom will be going it alone in the rough-and-tumble, laugh-in-the-face-of-death world of nationwide reparatory screenings—for now. Starting next month, the films will be introduced by Leonard Maltin! I wonder if Mankiewicz and Maltin arm-wrestled over who would get the coveted job... and Leonard Maltin lost.

For what it’s worth, here are the rest of these Manckiewicz-less Big Screen Classics screenings for the year: Casablanca (March 5 & 8), The Big Lebowski 25th Anniversary (April 16 & 20), Grease 45th Anniversary (May 14 & 17), Hairspray 35th Anniversary (June 11 & 14), National Lampoon’s Vacation 40th Anniversary (July 16 & 19), Enter the Dragon 50th Anniversary (August 13 & 16), Rain Man 35th Anniversary (September 17 & 20), The Birds 60th Anniversary (October 22 & 23), Scarface 40th Anniversary (November 12 &15), and A Christmas Story 40th Anniversary (December 10 & 13).

There’s something a little un-adventurous and middle-of-the-road about these selections that bothers me, but there you go. Apparently, a film's chances of getting “back up on the big screen” with the Fathom people are significantly higher if it is celebrating an anniversary. So why no Hunchback of Notre Dame? Not every great film was made in the last 99 years, you miserable Notre-phobes!

NOTE: An earlier draft of this column featured the author continually re-starting the column in a lame and obvious attempt to ape the structure of the movie. Ha! My gentle readers can thank God that, at the last minute, I quite literally WOKE UP and came to my senses, respecting the readers' intelligence and sensibly removing this hackneyed horse shit.

Just kidding. I got you, babe.