Groundhog Day [Paperback]

Groundhog Day(1993), directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray, is widely regarded as one of the most original and enduring films of 1990s Hollywood. What begins as a high-concept romantic comedy about a cynical television weatherman forced to repeatedly relive the same day soon deepens into a tale of despair and renewal, coloured by existential unease and the spirit of Samuel Beckett.
In this engaging study, Ryan Gilbey traces the film's unlikely journey from Danny Rubin's speculative script, centred on a man condemned to eternity in a small town, to its transformation into a studio classic. Drawing on fresh interviews with Rubin, Gilbey explores the inspired casting of Murray and Andie MacDowell, the film's quietly radical structure, and the delicate balance between comedy and melancholy that givesGroundhog Dayits lasting power.
This new edition includes an afterword in which Gilbey reflects on the film's continuing cultural impact, its themes of repetition and despair assuming fresh resonance in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic with its cycle of lockdown and re-opening. He considersGroundhog Day'sinfluence on movies and television fromSource Code(2011) andEdge of Tomorrow(2014) toRussian Doll(20192022) andI May Destroy You(2020), as well as the 2016 stage musical based on the movie.Groundhog Day, Gilbey argues, has become more than a film; it is now a lens through which we examine repetition, transformation and the rhythms of contemporary life.

A new edition of a study of Harold Ramis's 1993 comedyGroundhog Dayin the BFI Film Classics series.Ryan Gilbeyis a writer and critic based in London. He was named theIndependent/Sight and SoundYoung Film Journalist of the Year in 1993 at the age of 22, won aPressGazetteaward for his reviews at theNew Statesman, where he was film critic from 2006 until 2023, and has written for theGuardianslí