(Columbia Pictures, Trevor Albert Production, Harold Ramis Film, 1993)

review and discussion questions by Barbara Miller

Phil Connors, cutesy weatherman for a Pittsburgh TV station, is a pill — he's selfish, arrogant, bitter and pushy. We want to see him changed. Because this is a Harold Ramis film and because Phil Connors is played by Bill Murray, we know he will change; and we know that the change will be fun to watch.

Phil is assigned to travel to Punxsatawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual small-town America hoopla of Groundhog Day. Cameraman Larry (played with goofy, embarrassing social ineptness by Chris Elliott) and producer Rita (Andie MacDowell is all shining sophomoric idealism) will go with him. Phil's goal? Get back to Pittsburgh ASAP, so he doesn't lose on-air time. The seeds of Phil's redemption are planted early in the movie when Rita suggests that it would be fun to stay over in Punxsatawney and enjoy the town festivities.

The team arrives and checks in for a one-night stay. The following morning, the team's assignment is complete (the groundhog sees his shadow — six more weeks of winter); and Phil is ready to leave. He has been professional, but cold to everyone he meets: the man in the hallway at the bed and breakfast, the hostess in the dining room, the "bum" he passes on the street, the old high-school acquaintance turned insurance salesman, townspeople, Rita and Larry. He treats everyone with equal contempt.

The team takes off for Pittsburgh, despite blizzard warnings (it can't happen; Phil says it will pass to the north). They are, of course, turned back by the blizzard and forced to stay another night in Punxsatawney.

Close-up on alarm clock . . . 6:00 a.m. . . . Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You Babe" . . . the morning DJs announce that it is Groundhog Day!

Wait, how can that be? That was yesterday. Today is February 3. We watch Phil's tortured struggle to understand that the fabric of time has indeed been torn and reset twenty-four hours earlier. Unfortunately, he seems to be the only one aware of the situation. Everyone else is experiencing February 2 just as they did the first time we saw them. And Phil is not pleased! In fact, he is pretty annoyed by the inconvenience.

When it happens again the next morning, Phil's anger turns to fear. When visits to doctor and psychiatrist fail to help him, his "who cares?" attitude takes over. Phil gets drunk and ends up in jail. But, guess what? He wakes up in the bed and breakfast, and Sonny and Cher are singing I Got You Babe. February 2 begins again.

I counted at least 42 (6 weeks of winter???) on-screen repetitions of the day, many of them very funny. There are undoubtedly more than we are shown.

If you don't already know, what we are invited to witness is a journey of redemption. Phil moves through the full palette of emotional color, by turns: angry, lustful, bored, depressed, anxiously urgent, desperate, suicidal, greedy then resigned, creative, poetic, generous, philosophical, loving, and fully alive in the present moment.

It is the journey of a man forced to face the same potential lessons again and again, relentlessly, until he learns them. There is a moment, at around the 6-month mark, when Phil makes the offhand comment that maybe all of this is not a curse. Before that scene, every action is focused on fighting the phenomenon or taking advantage of others through his special knowledge. After that scene, each day becomes a new opportunity for improvement. He learns to play the piano and to ice sculpt. He saves several lives and a marriage. He truly falls in love with Rita and stops trying to prove it. He becomes less obsessed with gaining advantage and more concerned with giving of himself.

Having chosen the spiral flow of continuous improvement, Phil has found true contentment in the joy of the present moment. He says to Rita, "No matter what happens tomorrow, I'm happy now."

Close-up on the clock . . . 6:00 a.m. . . .Sonny and Cher are singing "I Got You Babe," but the DJs are talking about yesterday's blizzard; and Rita is sleeping peacefully by Phil's side. It is truly a new day!

This is the best visual lesson on spiral flow I have ever seen. We see the main character visiting and revisiting the same situation in a new way, seeing from a new perspective each time. If the attitude we bring is anger and selfishness, the spiral will flow down into itself. If we devote ourselves to new learning, serving the needs of others, and finding the joy in each moment, it will flow ever upward. Rita's foreshadowing becomes Phil's mission. Until it is fun to stay — to meet and help people, to care, to celebrate — Phil can't move on.

Neither can we. As the body of Christ, we are on a journey of redemption and reconciliation. We won't get any closer to God until we stop trying to be in control. This life is not a burden that we must somehow endure or overcome. It is a blessing we are called and equipped to share with others.

Study Questions

1. Devoting ourselves to continuous improvement doesn't mean that everything will turn out the way we want or think is best. What does Phil learn through his encounters with Pops? How can we benefit from this lesson?
2. Contentment and continuous improvement would seem to be contradictory terms. Yet the movie portrays them as equally desirable and interdependent. How do you understand the relationship between these two terms? How do they relate to one another in our life of faith?
3. The Ritas in our lives are easy to love. How can we learn to love the Larrys and the Ned Ryersons?
4. In what ways is your flow spiraling upward? What forces act in its favor? What forces act against it? Apply these same questions as you reflect on your congregation's flow.
5. One of the significant elements for me in the movie is that Phil's work improves when he focuses on learning in new and unrelated areas (piano, ice-sculpting, poetry). List three specific areas in which you and/or your group can work on continuous improvement. None of the three should be directly related to your work.

(originally posted 10-4-00)