Groundhog Day!

Yay!  It's Groundhog Day today which means it's time to roll out one of my favorite movies of all time. Wanting to write this post actually gave me the idea for yesterday's post about unlikable protagonists (though I would call Phil a charming asshole way before I'd say he's "unlikable").  Still, while he changes some of his attitudes drastically in the movie I think he maintains a charming ass quality throughout.  I would say this is due to Bill Murray's performance in the role, which even when he's being sentimental (as he does in the scene below when he tells Rita goodbye) is always tinged with...I don't know...comedic self awareness (or just Bill Murray being Bill Murray).  

There are tons of hilarious dialogue scenes in the film, especially those where Phil adjusts what he's doing to try to win over Rita, but I always remember this great little car chase.  For one, it has the line, "Don't drive angry" addressed to the groundhog...and animals are funny.  Sometimes animals get stuck in movies where they don't belong (in a lame attempt at humor) but here, the groundhog is obviously essential to the car chase even happening.  Also, there is a nice that's good, that's bad moment near the end -- the car goes off the cliff (that's bad), but the way it lands, maybe Phil survived (that's good) until it explodes (that's bad).  And finally, how many movies can kill off the protagonist halfway through the movie and make me laugh at the same time?

If you haven't seen this amazing and hilarious movie, what the heck are you waiting for?