Latest / Off The Shelf With Phil and Dave- A Movie Review Podcast / 1993's Groundhog Day

Transcript

1993's Groundhog Day · Off The Shelf With Phil and Dave- A Movie Review Podcast

0:01
Hello and welcome to Off the Shelf with Phil and Dave, the
0:06
movie talk show where each week one of us takes a movie off our
0:08
shelf, presents it to the other, and discusses it at length.
0:18
This week we've got Coming off of My Shelf 1993's Groundhog
0:23
Day, starring Bill Murray, Andy McDowell, Chris Elliott, and
0:27
Punxsutawney Phil. It's written and directed by
0:33
Harold Ramis, and it brings Bill Murray back to the show.
0:36
David, welcome back to the couch.
0:38
Thank you. Great to be here.
0:40
How you doing this week? Splendid.
0:43
Perhaps most importantly, what are your initial impressions on
0:45
this movie? First time seeing it.
0:47
OK. Yeah, kidding me.
0:50
First time, best time. 1993 family friendly movie.
0:54
This is a popular one in my household.
0:57
We used to watch it on repeat. Get it?
0:59
Because of the. It's early in the episode, so
1:03
everyone's going to hear that joke.
1:05
That's the clip. That's the one that goes out to
1:07
the Instagram. Absolutely.
1:09
So I was excited to watch it again because it had been about
1:12
probably 15 years. I just remember loving it.
1:17
It's a feel good movie. Bill Murray, we've watched a few
1:20
of his movies. I just like.
1:21
Him on the street, he's always reliable.
1:24
Danny McDowell. This is the only Annie McDowell
1:27
opportunity I get because I wasn't old enough to watch sex,
1:31
lies and videotapes. As you know, I never got back to
1:35
it, and she hadn't done a lot, so it was nice to see her.
1:38
She's a she's. Cute.
1:40
Yeah, that's literally my first note on her.
1:42
Yeah, what about Chris? Elliott not so cute.
1:44
That's an actor that I cannot enjoy under any circumstance.
1:47
Have you watched Shits Creek? I know it's TV.
1:49
I watched a few episodes. He's the worst in that he is the
1:52
worst in it. I have 0 interest in him.
1:54
I hated him in there something about Mario movie I quite enjoy
1:58
hate him. This movie I love hate him.
2:01
He's actually not so bad here. This way, pretty just never
2:04
feels like a real human being. And so the few times he pops up
2:07
in a movie, I'm like, you suck, man.
2:08
He's slobby. Yeah.
2:10
I'm not sure what that means. You know what slobby means?
2:12
No, I guess the combination of slobby, OK, and I don't know, I
2:18
don't know and I don't know your history with this movie.
2:22
Obviously it's safe to say that you have some based upon the
2:27
fact that you were born roughly around the same time as me and
2:31
as a 40 something year old, it's rare that one hasn't seen this
2:35
film. Yeah, it's in the vernacular, if
2:38
you will. It's in the in the lexicon.
2:40
This is a weird 1 though for me because I remember watching this
2:43
similar kind of situation. As you said, it was always
2:45
around and I love the movie and bizarrely don't give it the
2:50
credit it deserves for being as good as it is.
2:53
When I think of my favorite movies or the best movies about
2:57
X thing or my favorite 90s or anything like that, it doesn't
3:00
register on my brain and then I watch it.
3:04
There's a few movies we talked about this in our history, but
3:06
where I'm like fuck, like this movie needs to be watched every
3:09
month. Like, you know, it's that good
3:11
to me. Or I'll go that far, but yeah.
3:13
So it's interesting to me that despite knowing that I love it
3:17
and remembering that I love it, I kind of forget that I love it
3:21
until I watch. It sounds like you don't
3:23
appreciate. It a little bit I think is part
3:25
of the problem. Chris Elliott.
3:26
Maybe being away. Could be.
3:28
I have no good explanation, but it is something that I was eager
3:31
to watch. This will drop on Groundhog Day,
3:33
so it's nice to know. Well, there you go.
3:35
Save me the work of asking you why this movie?
3:37
Why now? There it is.
3:39
Thank you for that. You only ask about 20% of the
3:41
time anyways. You know, 30% money, 30% chance
3:44
of precipitation. Speaking of weather, Oh my God,
3:47
is it cold out today? Absolutely.
3:49
My car almost didn't start first time ever.
3:52
Wow, that's how cold it is. You're wearing your Gortex
3:55
jacket though, I saw absolutely you're ready. 100% dangerous out
3:59
there. It is.
4:00
It is seasonably cool outside. Somewhere someone said this is
4:05
the coldest place in the world today.
4:07
Ottawa and Moscow, those are the two coldest capitals, usually on
4:12
a day-to-day and. Today we get the big dog.
4:15
Yes. Love it?
4:18
Let's. Just see if IMDb gets the dub.
4:20
This. Week.
4:21
I had to check out Old Faithful and see if they managed to
4:25
summarize. This movie, hopefully they don't
4:26
give away everything like they did with Mad Max.
4:28
Yeah, that was the whole. Story right there.
4:30
The whole thing. Two sentences.
4:31
Here we have a narcissist, self centred weatherman finds himself
4:35
in a time loop on Groundhog Day. There it is.
4:38
OK, I don't think he can do much better than.
4:40
That Nope. It gets me interested.
4:42
Another win. So that is IMDb telling us the
4:45
whole story in a very specific manner.
4:47
So yeah, it's a big dub. Excellent.
4:50
This film comes from Columbia Pictures.
4:53
Yeah. And they love clouds.
4:55
I feel like that's a common. Intro for all she is on the with
4:59
her Lantern or whatever. Else cloud 9, sure, she looks
5:02
like she's enjoying herself up there.
5:04
Slight improvement on the credit intro, I would say a little more
5:08
brighter, a little more dynamic too, right?
5:10
There's clouds now. Music was a little more
5:12
inviting. That's right.
5:15
Glang Yeah, yeah. This song is called Clouds.
5:18
It's very upbeat but circus like.
5:22
And my history with the movie also includes this particular
5:27
song. We've already ended the history.
5:29
Part where I'm cracking open the history books and I'm going to
5:32
add a new. Chat give you an extension.
5:33
When I was in Vancouver and early 2000s, my friends and I,
5:38
we signed up for the 48 Hour Film Festival.
5:41
And the trick of that particular thing was we went to a
5:46
centralized location and we got effectively a bag full of
5:50
things. And we could incorporate the
5:52
things from this bag in any way that we chose.
5:55
And we had things like a picture of a man holding a bloody
5:58
toaster. White background in a full suit.
6:01
Alright, holding a bloody toaster.
6:03
Wasn't. Jam no bloody toaster.
6:06
And there were a few other props and other things included one of
6:10
the things because you got a soundtrack, was this song.
6:13
OK, And I'm following. So when it read clouds on the
6:17
disk, we're like, what is this? And we played it like, oh, shit,
6:20
this is the intro to Groundhog Day.
6:21
And we made probably the worst movie in the history of movies.
6:23
I believe it. But we had 48 hours, basically
6:26
to write film and edit and then submit.
6:30
And this is another 2000, 2004. Yeah.
6:32
So you don't really have all the couple digital cameras,
6:35
handycams, whatever else. So anyway, it's tough sledding.
6:38
We came up with an idea. I say we collectively, but, you
6:41
know, called the Karma Toaster. The idea was a bit like a
6:44
Maximum OverDrive. The villainous appliances come
6:47
back. I'd watch that.
6:48
And then this guy was going to be like a covert ninja who beat
6:50
people with the pose. Anyway, lots of ideas, none were
6:53
bad. But anyway, this is a song that
6:55
lived with me a lot even when I wasn't watching the movie.
6:58
That song brings me right back to to that moment Memory Burned
7:01
2004, which was nice to revisit. That's great year, Yeah.
7:05
Maybe you want to relive? That year over and over.
7:08
So in watching it now, it's been such a long time since I've seen
7:12
this movie that I was immediately locked back into 20
7:16
year old Phil in that 48 hour Film Festival hearing that song.
7:20
And then luckily the movie kicks in and I'm back to.
7:23
My memories of the movie itself, well, I appreciate that,
7:26
Phillip, for that information. You're welcome.
7:31
Happy to share it. I too.
7:33
No, I don't have anything. I just want to talk about the
7:36
weather, actually. OK.
7:38
Yeah, you claimed. Actually, I put words into your
7:41
mouth, I think. And Friday four, OK, that you're
7:45
a weather guy. Oh yeah, yeah, sure.
7:47
We get Bill giving us the weather report on the blue
7:50
screen. That's how it works.
7:52
You can't see nothing. So from that little monitor
7:54
there, I don't know if you knew. That absolutely.
7:56
It's Steve Martin. I believe a couple years earlier
7:59
he had the board in real time. He's throwing sons.
8:02
Up. He was doing something with a
8:03
magnet there, but yeah, no, Bill's doing it.
8:06
Yeah, Bills new technology. Yeah, yeah, it's magical.
8:09
I love his attitude. Yeah, he's great towards giving
8:12
the weather, but you can tell he's putting on a persona and
8:16
the Co anchor she has an idea of who built really is not Bill.
8:21
Sorry, Phil. Phil, that's right.
8:22
You can relate to. That centric, absolutely.
8:24
Very Phil heavy. It is really important to not
8:28
only do you get one fill, you get 2 in the movie and you get
8:30
me talking, there's a three fill.
8:32
That's too much. It's too much.
8:34
Questionable. He has done the Groundhog Day
8:37
too much. Yes, fourth year.
8:39
Yeah, she's. Sticking it.
8:40
She's sticking it for sure. And I think about how this scene
8:44
echoes a little bit of LA story when she's kind of making fun of
8:47
Steve Martin's character in that moment, too, because he says, Oh
8:51
yeah, I have a degree in English literature, whatever.
8:53
And she's like, a lot of good at.
8:54
Did you, right? It's like, no one respects the
8:56
weatherman. I know, basically.
8:58
And this guy makes the weather. Yeah.
9:00
But we got the song The Weather, Man.
9:01
Did you like this song? No.
9:03
Loved it. You know, I shouldn't say I
9:05
didn't like it. I don't know with it so I didn't
9:07
have OHP I love. This song was written for this
9:09
movie. OK, It's fine.
9:10
Written by Harold Ramos. Really.
9:12
Yeah. Yeah, this guys got a lot of
9:14
talent. Yeah, he said he made more money
9:16
than goes on that then. Not on Ghostbusters, no, but on
9:20
this movie he's like, that put me in ASCAP.
9:22
Basically, it was an American songwriter.
9:25
Good for him. So hell of a guy.
9:27
It's a great song. I have it on the old playlist,
9:29
as it were. It's very clever.
9:30
Yeah, we can talk about the music throughout because there
9:33
is a few tunes in this. Some are a.
9:34
Little bit good soundtrack. Repetitive, but luckily they're
9:37
not the worst songs here on Thank Goodness.
9:39
In my opinion anyway. We'll get your opinion a little
9:41
bit later. I want your opinion on Andie
9:44
MacDowell. Cute.
9:45
Already told you. That's it, That's it.
9:47
I think she's totally fine as an actor, but she's really cute and
9:50
adorable in this movie in particular and plays that type.
9:54
I'm laughing because she's the producer and she doesn't do
9:57
anything in in the movie. Yeah, I found that funny.
10:02
Like she just stands there. Yes, she's overseeing.
10:05
Well, what's funny, as you know, I took TV Broadcasting 2.
10:08
Years a lot of good at digit. Graduated with honors.
10:11
Yeah. One of my professors was Joel
10:13
Haslam, who works for CTV. Really nice guy, amazing
10:18
professor. But one of the things we talked
10:20
about in his class was the fact that he's doing everything now.
10:25
He's his own cameraman, he's his own producer, he's on the mic.
10:29
It's a one man show now, a joke about that because here you have
10:33
Chris Elliott, camera guy. Yep, sure.
10:35
Andy Mcdowell's character not doing anything.
10:37
So I can see why downsize. Yeah, sure into that, but it's a
10:41
lot of work now to. Well, sure.
10:43
You set up your own eye line, right?
10:44
You set up your camera, it's on a tripod.
10:46
That's it. You just talk straight to camera
10:48
MJS. So they call them OK, multi
10:51
something journalists. Yeah, with honors.
10:54
Yeah, I did good in that class. Too great, did you?
10:58
Well, well. Punk Punk Satani.
11:10
Satani yeah. Is that a real place?
11:13
And Punxsutawney Phil is the prognosticator of
11:15
prognosticators. Really, what are your thoughts
11:17
around just the whole thing? Love it.
11:20
Really. Oh yeah.
11:21
What I like about movies in the old days is it were now
11:25
everything's on the volume, right?
11:26
So you just create a digital background, you build a little
11:29
set, and then you build out with CGI on these blue screens and
11:32
whatever, all iterative kind of things.
11:35
But here, you've taken a film crew.
11:37
Small town Pennsylvania, not Pittsburgh, just outside, right?
11:42
Punxsutawney is the town. Yeah, but in this, you're lived
11:45
in. So everywhere you go in this
11:47
town, some of it might be on a set, but all the exteriors or
11:50
some of those exteriors, it feels like you're in a real
11:52
place and therefore adds credibility to the movie
11:55
overall. And there's something I find
11:57
particularly romantic around these small town vibes.
12:00
This movie, I think, encapsulates that really great.
12:03
So I love the Pennsylvania polka and the singing, dancing, the
12:07
hot cocoa is like all of that stuff.
12:09
I'm all over it. Love everything.
12:10
About it. Wonderful.
12:11
Great to hear. Now Phil's attitude, you get a
12:14
sense of here. He's not over the top though
12:17
when I think of Scrooged. Ohhhhh.
12:18
Yeah, I was a little put off. I believe so.
12:21
Yeah, how over the top it was. At the beginning, too loud to
12:26
boisterous to. Hostile.
12:28
I almost thought this was too subtle.
12:30
Oh, interesting. But on the second watching, no.
12:33
Well, I think it's good. The nice thing about the movie,
12:35
you get an arc, he gives you a lot to play with, but right away
12:39
he's frustrated and annoyed. But he's not, I think you're
12:42
saying overplaying that. But as the movie goes on, we
12:45
certainly see different shades. Absolutely.
12:48
And we kind of know he doesn't wanna be there.
12:50
He's trying to get out as fast as possible, get stuck in a
12:52
Blizzard, unpredictable. Does he play cold well?
12:56
I thought very good. Yeah, I make the weather is.
13:00
Genius. My only nitpick here, if I could
13:03
please, is when it's snowing it's typically not that cold,
13:06
but I think his lip. Lip work.
13:09
The lip work. It was funny.
13:12
Yeah, Redford can do an eye acting, but Bill can do a lip
13:15
acting. Well, it's certainly better than
13:17
Tommy Lee Jones. Yawn.
13:19
Oh, gosh, keep going back to it really bothered me.
13:22
It's terrible, terrible. But yeah, they're they're stuck.
13:25
They're not going anywhere. And we discover pretty quickly
13:29
he wakes up. Really.
13:30
Stuck. Really stuck because it is
13:33
exactly the same. Beats 6:00 AM.
13:35
I got you, babe. That's a good tune.
13:37
Sure, and it bumps into Ned the head.
13:40
Ned Ryerson. Ryerson Bing.
13:45
Am I right or am I right? Yeah, he's great.
13:47
Stephen Tobolowsky, of course, always fun to see.
13:51
So we as an audience, and obviously we're feeling that
13:53
similarly to Phil, where this looks familiar.
13:56
I don't like this. This is weird.
13:58
And he plays that confusion, I thought, very well.
14:00
I think it's a tall order to play that because it's clearly
14:03
the same day, but as a human being that would not register at
14:08
all like this is impossible. Yeah, you couldn't allow it to
14:11
even process, right. So you're like, why is all of
14:13
these little things familiar? Like deja vu can only go so far.
14:16
I love how the woman working at the bread and breakfast, I'll
14:19
check the kitchen for some deja vu because she doesn't know what
14:22
the word is. Yeah, that's always funny stuff.
14:25
He's starting to worry. And when he gets to Andie
14:28
Macdowell's character, who is Rita, he needs to talk to her
14:32
for a second. He's a little concerned.
14:34
Yeah, but they have a show to do so.
14:36
That's right. He does it fine.
14:38
What I think is fun about this particular segment is we realize
14:42
that where they're going is to Gobblers Knob.
14:45
Sounds section it's even. At 13, Ford, 14 years old, when
14:49
I saw this, I was like, oh, yeah, I get it.
14:51
Yeah, I know what's up here. But what I really find
14:53
interesting is the way in which he ends that night taking a
14:57
pencil, snaps it in half. So he's already trying to game
15:01
the system. He's trying to figure out what
15:03
is. Up.
15:04
Yeah, he's alone on this. Yeah.
15:05
And I like that because it's early on.
15:07
We're only like maybe 20 minutes at most into the movie, and
15:10
we've established what's happening, or at least the
15:13
curiosity about what's happening and having the stakes.
15:16
Yeah, and Even so much mistakes necessarily, but just that it's
15:20
not like blind ignorance that he just like, wakes up ignorant to
15:23
whatever's happening. The fact that he's already
15:24
trying to figure it out and piece it together, I find, at
15:26
least from a character perspective, to be compelling
15:29
and interesting rather than just reset and be goofy silly.
15:32
The brain's already working figure out what is happening and
15:34
why. He's a smart guy.
15:36
Totally. You saw him play Jeopardy.
15:39
He was like George when he gave up sex.
15:41
That's right, although it's getting all the answers.
15:43
It really was coming up. Stupid show.
15:46
He wakes up for the third time. It said 4:00 AM on the clock on
15:51
like he's either going to bed really, really early or really
15:54
late and you need more than two hours sleep.
15:56
I'm just saying. Maybe he doesn't.
15:59
We don't know what you don't you need here, sleep wise.
16:02
But he wakes up on the third time and now he's definitely
16:04
aware that something is wrong and he's got a little paranoid.
16:07
He rushes through seeing everybody, avoids contact as
16:10
best he can, rushes to Rita to try and explain and figure out
16:13
and like, yeah, nobody wants any time for him.
16:15
They bring him to Harold Ramis, the doctor.
16:18
Did you recognize Paramus? Yeah, this time.
16:21
Egon. You gain a little bit of weight.
16:24
I'm not one to. Talk son of a bitch.
16:26
I can't believe you would bring that.
16:27
Up for all the fat shaving jokes I've fought against every single
16:31
fucking movie. Here's the host.
16:33
He's gotten older and that's just natural.
16:35
Natural. It reminded me of Jon Favreau,
16:39
the L an elf. Yeah, sure, there's another one.
16:44
He plays a doctor in that too. Not elf, not elf.
16:46
No, no, no, no. You did a great.
16:48
Job getting better, so they love to play those types of roles,
16:52
those fellas. I got 1 scene in me.
16:53
Let's. Just do this.
16:54
I think M Knight played a Doctor, I'm sure in one of his
16:56
8-9 roles but he nails it. Right.
16:59
Yeah, I think he's great. He's what I think is great is
17:02
the button on the end where he says let's make an appointment
17:04
for tomorrow. It's like the whole point I'm
17:06
here is that there is no tomorrow.
17:08
It's same thing when he gets up with a psychiatrist at some
17:10
point like this. I don't really deal with this,
17:13
but let's come back tomorrow if you can.
17:15
Like no man. It's just funny.
17:17
I have an alcoholic now. Psychologist is really weird.
17:20
He's not confident in himself. Absolutely.
17:23
But we're finding ourselves 30 minutes into the movie and
17:26
things are sinking into what he could do.
17:29
He's at the bar. Yeah, with Gus.
17:32
You didn't know. That did you did not.
17:34
He's in a diehard movie. I think that's all I know.
17:37
Research heavy. One of the things that he says,
17:40
though, is what would you do if every day was exactly the same
17:42
and the reaction was. That pretty much sums it up.
17:45
Yeah. Yeah.
17:46
This movie is very funny when it wants to be, but I find most of
17:49
it to be pretty low key. Yeah, for sure.
17:52
No big laughs. Or yeah, you know, it's not that
17:55
type of. Movie, but Bill has enough
17:57
charisma in his performance that when he's trying to be funny, I
18:00
think it nails. He's the right man for the.
18:02
Job. I think so.
18:03
Perfect casting, really. And he decides to take those two
18:05
fellers on a little car trip. Really.
18:09
A trip? Sorry.
18:10
I'd say it's more of a chase. Sure.
18:12
Much like last week. That's right.
18:14
Yeah. Yeah.
18:14
The bronzers got him. Yeah.
18:16
For this. Not the crux, just a small
18:18
little section. But he realizes nothing really
18:20
matters that much and takes the car onto a railroad track.
18:25
It's not a good idea, Phil. Just saying.
18:26
And they call him out on that. This is, you know.
18:28
I don't know much, but I know that we shouldn't be doing this.
18:30
We were drunk, but this doesn't feel right.
18:33
Yeah, a little game of chicken. It's a freight train.
18:35
I don't. It's a freight train.
18:37
Freight train. Sounds like it's heavy, but it's
18:39
really just carrying great, which is probably heavy, which I
18:42
guess that's OK. It's quarter with Dave.
18:48
And they crash, and we have a subtle, funny moment.
18:51
Like you said, he's ordering fries.
18:54
That's from the cop. Too early for flapjacks.
18:57
Grey lines. Never two things in the trailer.
18:59
Yeah, I love that. And he ends up in jail, of
19:02
course. And then we quickly cut to the
19:04
next morning. Next morning, Scott free.
19:06
Yeah. And he has a complete change of
19:09
attitude. Yeah, absolutely.
19:11
Now he's because he asked them to like, did anybody, any cops
19:14
come looking for me, you know? And now he's OK.
19:17
Things are turning in his brain, definitely.
19:19
Yeah, and it's one thing this movie does really well is every
19:22
few days his attitude changes. Correct.
19:25
But this one has coined the fun times for.
19:27
Him. I agree.
19:28
I think this is definitely where he's having the most.
19:31
Food. Loosening up, for sure.
19:34
He punches net in the face. Yeah.
19:35
He's got. No.
19:36
He's like, fuck this. I don't have to listen to this
19:38
guy. He's answering before everybody
19:40
can ask him the questions. He's definitely, I think,
19:41
enjoying himself. Yeah, I do question the amount
19:44
of food he's got everything. Yeah.
19:47
Living the same day over and over doesn't make your stomach
19:50
expand. Like you're going to be sick.
19:52
Sure. Already saying I don't care if
19:54
I'm going to be sick because I guess my thinking is I agree.
19:57
Like, obviously it's a joke. I know.
20:00
Here's a bad story. The first time I ever been on a
20:02
cruise. The food is plentiful, OK.
20:04
And so I had never been in this situation where it was so
20:08
plentiful, wow and accessible. And I basically ate myself sick
20:13
on the first day. And you're on the boat, too.
20:14
If you're yeah, sure, that didn't really affect us.
20:17
So docked at that point, OK, no self-control.
20:19
Sickening. It was so I can appreciate the
20:22
instinct. Anyway, I'm saying I want every
20:23
pastry on the menu tonight. You know what I would have said
20:26
to you if I was on that cruise with you?
20:28
Unwept an honored blah blah blah.
20:31
Something from Willard Scott read.
20:33
Just doing this quote here. It's beautiful.
20:36
Sure, and you just stuffing his face with cake.
20:38
Delicious. But what's funny to me is he
20:40
really now gets it. He gets the game and how he's
20:44
going to implement that game becomes the next section of the
20:46
movie, I would say. Hmm.
20:48
And we get to meet Nancy, Nancy Taylor.
20:53
Have a Recon. Mission little Recon mission.
20:55
Now this is a little creepy. You know, realistically I think
21:01
1 would be inclined. It certainly willing.
21:04
Willing, at the very least, to entertain the idea of getting to
21:07
know somebody. You know who dated her?
21:10
Newman. Newman and Jerry.
21:12
Both the Newman and Seinfeld episode.
21:15
Yeah. And Jerry didn't want to date
21:17
her anymore because Newman had dumped her.
21:19
Oh, yeah, that's right. How is she?
21:21
Yeah. So she was a big thing in the
21:23
90s, is all I'm saying. Yes, I think it's the same.
21:25
Here, this is a big year then, big year for Nancy, Big in the
21:30
90s, yeah. But yeah.
21:31
So that I kind of like the playfulness of how he's going to
21:34
manipulate that situation and makes the powers he has be a
21:38
little bit more useful, let's say maybe than what they have.
21:41
Been in the past and he funds himself.
21:43
Truth. That worked out well.
21:45
When you think about things like what would you do if you had
21:49
unlimited information? Maybe not power, but
21:52
information. Unlimited.
21:53
Takes and unlimited takes a little bit, yeah.
21:55
When he talks about things like why couldn't it be June this
21:59
day? I was 97 with three women on my
22:02
yacht or whatever the story is. Why couldn't I relive that day
22:06
and not this one over and over? Again, I think you embellish it.
22:08
Yeah, I get the idea. So did you prior to this movie
22:11
or during this movie, ever have that thought or kind of wish
22:13
almost? I certainly didn't think about
22:16
that before. I've thought about going back in
22:18
time and fixing a lot of things, but not getting stuck on that
22:22
day. OK.
22:23
So throwing that into the equation, it does intrigue me.
22:26
Yeah, I think I'd be up for it. OK.
22:28
I would wanna put a cap on it and if I could use a recent
22:31
movie that we've done. Please looper or we're looping
22:34
again. Yeah, so let me live that same
22:40
day for 30 years, the equivalent of 30 years, OK.
22:44
And not age, Yeah. Alright.
22:45
So that day, 30 years, day over day over day.
22:48
So 365 * 30, it's a lot. It's a lot that I say it, but.
22:53
I mean, you could of. Yeah, it's a lot of golf, OK, a
22:55
lot of golf. It would have to be a summer day
22:58
with the knowledge I have now. Of course.
23:01
And I would say early. 20s and you could build on that
23:03
knowledge, right? Because you don't reset, right?
23:05
He doesn't reset every day. He continues moving forward.
23:08
So you can golf to perfection basically.
23:11
But to what end? But you would have to find a
23:15
money source. Or you don't, because let's say
23:18
you've got $5000 in your bank account on that day.
23:20
I wouldn't have thought I could be.
23:21
Again, I'm in my early. 20s you gotta be really strategic.
23:24
I'm calling Dad their money at that point.
23:26
So I think you would really have to plan this out because maybe I
23:30
would pick something in my 30s about what your health was at
23:33
that time. It really depends on the rules
23:35
of the game. A lot of variables.
23:36
I have to have to use the same question.
23:38
Does it intrigue? You 100% Yeah.
23:40
There's a line in me and Bobby McGee, Kris Kristofferson song
23:47
that Janis Joplin sings, OK, And in there there's a line that she
23:52
sings. I trade all of my tomorrow's for
23:55
just one more yesterday. Well, that's nice.
23:58
And I like that that's not me. I would.
24:01
I love my tomorrow's and I've had many great tomorrow since
24:04
whatever day it is I'm going to pick.
24:06
Don't get me wrong, you're thriving.
24:07
But there is 100% days that I can remember in the early 2000s
24:11
living in Vancouver on the beach.
24:13
Money in my pocket. Unlimited rentals.
24:16
Exactly. Video store.
24:17
Fun. Great group of friends.
24:19
Apartment. Getting robbed.
24:21
The apartment. Yeah.
24:21
Over and over and over. All of those things.
24:23
You could stop that. Exactly.
24:25
I could. Actually you could.
24:26
Thwart it. I could throw it.
24:27
I could find out who was involved.
24:28
I have a mission. I could turn it into a looper
24:30
type of situation. I have to find the criminals.
24:32
I don't know if that's enough they pick that day.
24:34
But yeah, so there is definitely like the idea of living that.
24:37
But I like your 30 year cap because, yeah, what ends up
24:39
happening in this movie will get to it.
24:41
But like, it can sour when it's potentially decades.
24:45
We don't know how long he's been in this perpetual loop.
24:47
And you can only do so much before midnight, or sorry, not
24:50
midnight, midnight by 6:00 AM. He only goes so far.
24:53
You can't take trips to Barbados.
24:56
So you have. You could, but you just wake up
24:58
back home. There are just limitations,
25:00
totally. It's almost like a fun little
25:01
exercise, and I think the movie does a very good job of
25:04
establishing through the arc of the character, the excitement
25:08
and intrigue and the banality and boredom and then really the
25:12
sadness, which is kind of upcoming, and you really get a
25:14
sense of like the existential crisis in here.
25:17
This movie is actually really well written.
25:19
Watching it as like a 14 year old, I don't think I would have
25:22
realized that, but watching it this time like this is really.
25:25
Well thought out. Yeah, there's a lot of depth to
25:28
it. And at first, he's just meeting
25:29
up with Reed at this point, like, he's still keeping it
25:32
fairly local. He wants to get to know her.
25:34
They're talking. He's building the Rita Rolodex,
25:37
if you will. I always drink to World Peace.
25:40
OK, Mental note, I love French poetry.
25:42
Mental note, speaks French, all these mental notes.
25:45
So we kind of know where his trajectory is.
25:47
Going Yeah, he wants to be, in his words, the perfect guy.
25:50
That's right. He's only a couple tweaks away,
25:52
apparently. Me.
25:54
Really close on me, absolutely. But yeah, so they go dancing and
25:59
they kind of make out. They kind of make.
26:01
Out well, they. Make they make out.
26:03
Make out. Now.
26:04
Did you recognize the bartender? No.
26:06
Really. No.
26:07
He was a busy boy in 93. Tell me he was in The Fugitive.
26:11
Really. Richard Kimball went to him to
26:13
get a sample. OK, He was the guy worked in the
26:16
lab and then he got interviewed after by Tommy and the boys.
26:19
OK, that's him. Alright, I'll take your word
26:22
for. It Oh yeah.
26:23
Watch the Fugitive again, buddy. Like that's the guy.
26:26
Small role but he stands out for me.
26:28
I like them, yeah. You're good at that in ways that
26:31
I am not. But what ends up happening,
26:33
though, is you overplays his hand gets a little too handsy, a
26:36
little too feely. You get that sense of
26:38
desperation, like I really don't want you to go.
26:41
She doesn't really want to go either.
26:42
Like, she would have stayed, I think, if he was.
26:45
Yeah. So that was tough to watch.
26:47
But what I find real, though, they get it feels totally real.
26:50
I mean, I've done that when it hasn't felt like it's the end of
26:53
the world. But I have moved forward fast.
26:55
When you're thinking, you know I did some online dating back in
26:58
the early 2000s. I have a life worked out well.
27:01
For you, I really did for a little period of time, but we're
27:04
sort of in the situation of like we've been chatting for weeks.
27:06
It took weeks to get together for this one night.
27:09
I'm naturally not a patient person in some aspects with
27:12
people, I'm super patient customers and things like that.
27:15
But in certain aspects, I'm excited.
27:17
I'm excited. I could relate to that moment
27:19
and how he was portraying. That was really well done.
27:22
We cut from that to him more or less trying to duplicate.
27:27
Recreate the same create exactly, Maybe have a better
27:30
finish. Yeah, So he's just quickly.
27:32
I wanna have lots of kids. Lots of kids are throwing balls.
27:34
Oh my God, this is amazing. Like it's so forced and so
27:37
cheating. Yeah.
27:38
The circumstances and the moments that you.
27:40
Yeah. And it was great.
27:42
The snow part where the chief falls in the snow and he just
27:45
jumps down to the same position he was.
27:47
And she was put off by it. I know he takes that took.
27:49
But they nailed that moment is really good.
27:52
I thought the same. And it's really impressive to me
27:53
that they're able to do that because the first one feels so
27:56
effortless and then this scene feels so effortful, if you will,
28:01
and shoot that and keep the tone and whatever else.
28:04
It's a real talent for this to be as good as it is in these
28:08
moments. But I just think it's so funny
28:09
to watch him just be such an idiot.
28:12
And you think about the energy that would go into having to do
28:16
this every day for him to start at scratch with everybody.
28:20
I have to get her to fall in love with me every day, every.
28:23
That's a lot of work that would tire out.
28:25
And we're at that point where he does try over and over and we
28:30
get a bit of a flat montage. Yeah, that's what it's called.
28:33
That's what we're labeling it as.
28:35
And that's all it is. It's.
28:36
Yeah, it's a lot of slapping. And then he steals the
28:39
Groundhog. Tell me about this scene.
28:41
I think the Groundhog acting is amazing.
28:43
Yeah, like the performer. A shot one once didn't hurt it
28:46
though because the pellet gun was running out of the air. 1
28:49
was air cartridge once and they have really hard skulls.
28:53
So. So you're fine?
28:55
He's fine. Yeah.
28:55
I walked it. We're both fine.
28:57
Everybody's fine. We still send Christmas cards.
29:02
But we have Buster from Seinfeld fame, Course Moops, and another
29:08
great chase scene going toe to toe with Mad Max here.
29:12
Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:13
Hit the road. I think it's well shot.
29:15
Totally. I mean, it's not important
29:17
necessarily, but you want to capture the essence of a good
29:19
chase scene when you have a Groundhog at the wheel.
29:22
It's got a great ending. Goes out with pretty big
29:24
explosion. This is the one Chris Elliot
29:26
moment I like where he leans over his like he probably
29:28
survived. No, never mind.
29:30
Yeah, little insensitive, but what that does, it triggers the
29:34
next 5-10 minutes of the movie where he just kills himself in a
29:38
multitude of ways. Yeah, he's pretty sad at this
29:41
point. Yeah, the first one was the
29:42
toaster. Yeah.
29:43
Like the toaster jumps off a church, which I think is kind.
29:47
Of we get to see him in the morgue.
29:48
That's right. Yeah, Really.
29:50
They put money into that. They didn't have to do that.
29:53
But I think it's poignant. Poignant.
29:56
I don't use the word poignant very well, so I don't know.
29:58
If that's a poignant moment, I would say, but that's good make
30:00
up. Yeah, I thought his performance
30:02
in this particular section I think is fantastic.
30:04
Yeah, he plays dead. Really.
30:05
Well, just the sadness of it. Oh, yeah, The morose nature, his
30:10
body language. He's got a sad face.
30:12
Yeah. Generally, Bill Murray does.
30:13
Yeah, use it and is using it to its full potential here.
30:16
This is a real key moment. And then he tries to rationalize
30:20
this with Rita. You know I'm a God.
30:23
I'm not the God, right? Let's be real here.
30:25
And then he's explaining to her. I know everybody.
30:27
I know everything. I've been around.
30:29
I've seen this over and over and over again.
30:31
And I've been stabbed, I've been frozen, I've been burned.
30:34
So I've been hung. Like he's naming off all the
30:36
ways he's killed himself and survived.
30:38
My question to you though, wouldn't you still feel the
30:41
burning? Yeah, burning is not how I would
30:43
want. To yeah, cause that he does name
30:45
that one. And when you're being hung, that
30:47
probably doesn't feel good until you die.
30:49
No, I was like, it feels great when you die either, but but at
30:52
least you stopped feeling. Yeah, I agree.
30:54
But just go through some pain. Yeah, I wouldn't have picked
30:56
those ones as ways to go. But again, toaster.
31:00
I get there's a little bit of I guess the perverse curiosity
31:03
maybe why not? I wonder what it is like to burn
31:06
alive because if you know at the end of it you're just going to
31:08
reset, I guess you can. The real sickos.
31:11
You know, you might be able to. I wouldn't do it, but you know I
31:13
don't. The stomach.
31:14
That's right, absolutely not. But read it, we find out.
31:18
Is her idea that they're going to spend the day together
31:21
tonight together anyway? At this point, she's bought
31:24
into. It Yeah, he's proven to her that
31:26
there's something. Up.
31:27
Yeah, Bill's gay. That's right.
31:29
But the kicker is like the one that seals the deal is he writes
31:32
on that napkin. Exactly what, Chris?
31:34
Is exactly and that's like, alright, I'm with you, let's do.
31:37
This, you've given me 100 other examples and that's the one.
31:40
Come on. But I like the scene between the
31:43
two and I like the sadness that he's conveying in this scene.
31:46
I've died so many times, I don't even exist anymore.
31:49
Speaking of poignant, there's a poignancy to that line that
31:52
Jesus knocks me on my ass in a movie that is arguably a comedy.
31:57
And to have not only the themes that we're talking about, but
32:00
lines like that, I don't know. And maybe it's because I'm
32:03
getting older, obviously, but the resonance of those moments.
32:05
Oh, it's there. His performance, just really.
32:08
Good. Yeah.
32:08
And it's designed to be there for sure.
32:11
Movies of choice, Everything's a choice.
32:13
And she decides that she wants to stay up with them.
32:17
Yes, subconsciously though because we only see that clicks
32:20
over to midnight. I would have thought that too.
32:22
Probably not midnight. They're just trying to figure
32:25
what the Hell's going on, right? So I get that.
32:27
Now, I do have a question for you here though.
32:29
As they lie in bed. He's talking to her, but she's
32:31
not the awake. Yeah, but he says to her, I knew
32:36
I wanted you in my arms when I first saw you.
32:38
Or something along those lines. No, you didn't.
32:42
Not contentious of my memory, you know.
32:44
Yeah, contentious at the beginning.
32:45
But then I watched it the second time.
32:47
Yeah. Really saw the look.
32:49
It was subtle, though. OK.
32:50
And then I think that's perfectly played.
32:52
Can't make a meal out of it. Exactly.
32:54
So I thought that was really well done.
32:55
Interesting. I didn't notice the look, but I
32:58
believe that it's there. Think I lied to you about the
32:59
look? A lot of things, but it wouldn't
33:02
be the look. Not the look.
33:04
But I I did enjoy that moment. And I really felt that really
33:06
sweet. It's really cute.
33:08
And you believe even for just that day, that they have
33:10
something. Yeah, they actually, even if
33:12
it's going to disappear at 6:00 AM, but whatever.
33:14
That 24 hours they spent together.
33:15
They had that moment you to there, which he does say at some
33:18
point like we had. That we'll have this and none of
33:21
it will matter because you'll wake up tomorrow hating me just
33:23
the same. Yeah.
33:24
And there's some sadness in that because even that perfect day in
33:27
2008 or whatever that day was. That's funny.
33:30
That's the year I was gonna pick.
33:32
Hell year. You will never get anymore than
33:36
that, and whatever joys you feel that best perfect golf game will
33:40
be gone the next day and any relationships you're building or
33:43
any fixes you're making, yeah, are gone.
33:46
And if you wanted again, you got to go start all the work.
33:49
That's what it means. It's.
33:49
Tiresome. So I think that the weight of
33:52
that is really powerful. And the beautiful thing is it
33:56
doesn't dwell on that. We've lived it for 10 or 15,
33:59
maybe 20 in the movie, maybe. But now he's waking up with
34:03
purpose. It's the same day, yes, but he's
34:06
approaching it without that. Fuck me, it's the same day.
34:09
Finding new things to. Do and he's doing things with
34:12
purpose, the positive things you can do.
34:15
With opportunities OHT The pace of this movie is spot on, spot
34:19
on. He starts to learn to play the
34:21
piano. Absolutely.
34:22
In a way, he's playing hard to get yes as well.
34:25
We all know that works. He's like, I have somewhere else
34:28
to be. I want to be with you.
34:31
I claimed it last night. You don't know that you have to
34:35
go learn the piano. I have to go do this.
34:37
I can't be with you right now. You know, playing the long game,
34:40
absolutely, which is hard to do when you have one.
34:41
Day yes he's hugging Ned and my favorite one of my favorite
34:45
lines. I don't know what you're doing
34:47
right now, but can you call it sick Exactly That's I love that
34:51
and I've missed. You.
34:52
Yeah. And then it's like really
34:55
basically. In their first meeting and now
34:56
it's kind of you'll switcharoo. Yeah, which is great, but it's
35:00
not all puppy dogs and ice cream because we see that the old man
35:06
woman dies. This is one of the things I
35:09
remembered from watching it 1520 years ago.
35:11
Yeah, it was just that guy. I knew he was gonna die, and I
35:15
knew Bill had a moment. Yeah, I thought it was really
35:18
good. How do I use the word poignant?
35:20
Because already used. It and then you used it.
35:22
Yeah, we've met the quota. But I almost teared.
35:24
Up. It's incredible.
35:25
Yeah. It's a really emotional scene.
35:27
Not today. Yeah.
35:28
I want to see the chart. Because I can fix this.
35:30
I'm a God. I can fix this.
35:32
Some people just die. He was just old.
35:34
Sometimes people died. Not today.
35:36
It's such a that delivery is such a nothing line.
35:39
I know it's something, but it's it's.
35:40
Everything to me in in his performance.
35:43
Yeah, it's really good. And then, you know, he
35:45
overcompensates like he did with Rita.
35:46
Here's 2 bowls of soup. Peers, more food.
35:49
Yeah. Keep eating.
35:50
We're going to get you. OK.
35:52
It's super meal though, yeah. It's Hardy, Hardy, Hardy soup.
35:56
Luckily, he knows CPR mean he's had time to learn it.
35:59
That's right, but watching him fight against the death of this
36:03
old guy is fucking beautiful. And I agree, she teared up
36:07
really powerful stuff at a time when we're on the up right.
36:09
It's like the last head fake this movie does.
36:12
Yeah, cause he's fixing a flat tire.
36:14
He saved Buster with the Heimlich maneuver.
36:16
Right. The kid that falls out, the
36:19
driver, thank you for thanking me.
36:21
But he's racing around to do all these good deeds and it still
36:24
doesn't matter to this guy. And that's really powerful
36:26
stuff. It is time to liven things up a
36:38
little bit from the sadness. We have a party to go to.
36:41
That's right. And the running where Phil is
36:43
and while he's already at the party.
36:45
Phil, Phil Connors, he's. Yeah, he's on the piano.
36:49
If I could learn an instrument, yeah.
36:51
I mean, I could if I actually chose to.
36:53
Yes. I think it would be the piano,
36:55
Really. Yeah.
36:55
Interesting, I would love the idea of the piano but I'm more
36:59
of a guitar guy. To learn guitar, Yeah, I get
37:01
that. One of my friends, they've got a
37:03
piano in their living room. You just tickle the ivories
37:05
around people that can do that. I can't do it, but I want.
37:08
To I can play London Bridge. OK, that's it.
37:11
That's not nothing. I don't yearn, that's my
37:13
problem. That's it.
37:14
Yeah, you gotta up that urn lined up in a.
37:18
You're bringing the energy, Yeah.
37:22
And then there's this teacher. That's my student and she takes
37:27
over. Yes, she takes over because we
37:29
need him on the dance floor. Felt so romantic moments.
37:32
And because he's done all these great deeds throughout the day,
37:36
just one day, one day, everyone keeps coming up to him.
37:39
Yeah, and Rita is thrown off because she's like, how long
37:41
have you been here? Like, this is crazy.
37:43
Now. Did you recognize anybody here?
37:45
Michael Shannon. You could tell this guy has a
37:48
career. Strangely enough, he is a face
37:51
and a. Yeah, yeah, some people just
37:53
have. It the way delivers WrestleMania
37:55
is a. Pretty powerful.
37:56
And he kisses. She's all jealous.
37:59
Yeah, that ain't gonna. Last so cute cause he'll she
38:02
kisses Phil and like nothing. Oh yeah, we've got the auction,
38:06
which is another funny opportunity for yucks.
38:09
Just a perfect opportunity, really.
38:12
Like when you talk about how do we move this forward, correct?
38:14
Ironically, the plot, that's just a really good choice.
38:18
She's caught up in the moment. I guess she has a checkbook.
38:22
1993, Buddy. $339.88 and. She's going to empty her bank
38:29
account. Speaking of.
38:30
Questionable decisions. Exactly.
38:31
And fills hers for the night. Yeah, and the old lady gets a.
38:36
1st for 1/4. To me, like that whole thing,
38:39
yeah, everything with Chris Elliott just don't like.
38:41
Yeah, this is really poorly written.
38:43
That part of it, I think it's just, it's just unnecessary.
38:45
It's going for yucks. And the movie is so to me, moved
38:48
beyond the yucks at this point that it's sort of like, Oh yeah,
38:52
I don't care about that. I would care about Phil.
38:53
I care about Rita. I care about this relation.
38:55
I care about Punxsutawney. It's nice to care about people
38:57
this week. You had a real issue last.
38:59
Week. Yeah, I hated everybody.
39:00
Well, you didn't hate them. I just, I felt nothing.
39:02
Really nothing. Maybe did hate them, I don't
39:04
know. You mostly I just felt like I
39:06
didn't care about anything. For sure.
39:08
Definitely some caring here. So that wraps it up in terms of
39:12
their relationship and a beautiful way to end it.
39:13
I mean, I couldn't think of anything better.
39:15
Not only is the curse broken, the movie is over as we see the
39:18
radio again. Wrong.
39:21
Yeah. And she moves into frame and we
39:23
hear a different spiel and then we see 601602 and we're like.
39:28
OK, there we. Go and they're outside.
39:30
Great camera shot. Beautiful.
39:32
I can recognize these. You know, you know, you're
39:34
catching in. It's powerful stuff, man.
39:36
I love this movie. It's great.
39:38
So give me your final thoughts on the movie before we move on.
39:40
It's great. There it is.
39:42
What it does do is approves. Looks matter, OK?
39:46
How much effort he put in to getting the woman that he loved?
39:50
Yeah, Clooney can do it in a trunk in 10 minutes.
39:56
Sure. Yep, that's it.
39:57
It's a really good looking. Guy Very good looking guy.
39:59
He can do. That yeah, Bill, you're not
40:01
going to be able to do that. We can.
40:02
So there we go. His trunk work isn't as strong.
40:04
Ohgod trunk game. But in all seriousness, this is
40:09
a really well thought out film, beautifully written, flows
40:12
perfectly, makes tons of good choices on how it wants to tell
40:16
the story. And it's a feel good movie to
40:18
me. Comedy is #3 on this, really.
40:21
Maybe two. Yeah.
40:22
And I think this is an annual film.
40:26
Like we should be watching this. You said at the beginning we
40:28
could watch this monthly. Now, that's a little much.
40:30
Sure. I don't have time for that.
40:32
But because Groundhog Day is a yearly event, you should watch
40:36
this movie, listeners and ourselves every year.
40:39
Yeah, that's how good it is. Yeah, it feels like that.
40:42
It should be in that echelon. I.
40:43
Would say this is probably the second best movie you've brought
40:47
off this year. Wow, Actually it is This is the
40:49
second this second. It's amazing.
40:51
And again, I had seen the movie like a handful of times, but I
40:54
loved it just as much. Classic.
40:56
I called. It.
40:57
Yeah, and you don't use that word lightly.
40:59
No established. My wife jokes like you call
41:01
everything classic and then she told a coworker that she had
41:05
watched Groundhog Day. She called the classic that's
41:09
really grinded her gears. Sure about Phil.
41:11
Tell me your final impression. It's great though.
41:15
You might think so. It's near flawless.
41:18
I wouldn't even put it in a feel good movie.
41:20
It is definitely though, a feel feel movie.
41:23
Good point. It hits me in certain ways
41:26
really deeply, and I think the funny is in there and what is in
41:29
there is funny, but it's the breadth of emotion and thought
41:34
and storytelling that is involved in what is probably, at
41:38
the time, just a light Bill Murray comedy being sold as.
41:41
That's what I thought it was. Flapjacks like, yeah, funny
41:44
hijinks. And yet.
41:45
Something for everyone. The places it goes with the
41:48
concept I think is really, really impressive and
41:51
interesting and makes it surprising as you said that I
41:54
haven't watched it more frequently because it is just
41:56
such a good vibe movie for me. Any age can enjoy this movie and
42:00
for different reasons. Absolutely, and it grows with
42:02
you. I think it lives with you and as
42:04
you're in your 40s and 50s, maybe looking back on what you
42:08
would do over and over again, it feels differently than it 141516
42:13
when the future is more what you're looking for.
42:15
I don't wanna relive any. High school days.
42:17
Well, I know at 14 what I want to do over.
42:19
And over and over. You did fair with Nancy.
42:25
Really powerful film. I'm really surprised at how much
42:28
I love it. But it's definitely on the
42:30
shelf. And I agree, it'll come down, I
42:31
think a few more. Times and it hasn't lost
42:33
anything. I think like part of the show is
42:35
like, how's the movie age? And I think it's good now, if
42:40
not better than ever. Absolutely.
42:42
It's timeless. It really is.
42:43
It really is. I agree, couldn't agree.
42:45
Hello and welcome to Off the Shelf with Phil and Dave when we
42:48
talk show where each week one of us takes the movie off our shelf
42:50
and presented it to each other and talks about it at length.
42:54
Dave, I'm just kidding. It's.
43:00
You were not. Expecting that I couldn't figure
43:02
it out. I am slow.
43:03
Phillip Yeah, it's Groundhog Day.
43:05
Yeah, Repetition, my man. Thanks for listening.
43:08
We do appreciate it. As always, please follow us on
43:10
the Facebook page. Join us there and on Instagram,
43:13
subscribe to you. Miss an episode rates five stars
43:15
on your podcast. Your choice.
43:16
And, of course, share the podcast with everybody you know.
43:19
And if you see your shadow on February 2nd, you have six weeks
43:23
to tell everybody you know about this.
43:24
Podcast. That's a challenge.
43:25
Yeah, it is a challenge. Talk next week.