★★★★★
It’s a quarter of a century since the release of Groundhog Day, 25 years in which Harold Ramis’s philosophical comedy has surely been watched even more times than Bill Murray’s poor weatherman is forced to live out the same day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton both reportedly turned down the role, and thank heavens they did. This was a career-defining performance from Murray, a blend of jadedness, irascibility and humanity that he has never bettered.
It came at a cost to his friendship with Ramis, his Ghostbusters co-star, who described Murray’s behaviour on the shoot as “just really irrationally mean”. The two men barely spoke until they reconciled shortly before Ramis died in 2014. Perhaps the film’s themes of self-improvement and empathy finally hit home — it has been lauded by Buddhists and Hindus (who see it as exploring the idea of reincarnation) and Jews and Christians (for whom Punxsutawney = purgatory).
PG, 97min
Groundhog Day is released on Blu-ray and 4K DVD on January 29