Groundhog Day

GROUNDHOG DAY started life in 1993 as a small, unremarkable comedy, a kind of vehicle for star actor Bill Murray, with favourable to mediocre reviews. The pope of American film critics, Roger Ebert, gave it three out of five possible stars, and the Washington Post thought it characterised the quality of the film precisely by writing that the film was okay, but: "GROUNDHOG DAY will never be designated a national film treasure by the Library of Congress."

More than 30 years later, GROUNDHOG DAY is considered a sublime classic and has definitely achieved cult status. Both the term "Groundhog Day" and its German equivalent, "Täglich grüßt das Murmeltier", have found their way into the respective collective popular cultural vocabulary to describe situations that are experienced over and over again. Incidentally, Roger Ebert later revised his judgement and yes: the film was added to the Library of Congress in 2006.

And rightly so. The great charm, the subtle wit and the unspectacular moral dimension that emerges in the course of the plot give the film a palpable depth, which, however, takes nothing away from its lightness. The story of TV weather presenter Phil, who experiences the same miserable day (the so-called Groundhog Day, 2 February) of a boring shoot in the provinces over and over again and is the only one to notice it, is still charming and amusing today. Bill Murray carries the film with his portrayal of the sarcastic, bad-tempered weatherman, who uses the recurring days to try out all kinds of different ways of acting and who finds his way from self-serving actions to raging anger, suicidal actions and much more to a lovingly happy ending that is in no way cheesy, exaggerated or too sweet.

Our small, unspectacular spring double feature takes place on Friday (the actual Groundhog Day) at the time when weatherman Phil's alarm clock always rings: at 6:00 am!

And both versions make it possible to experience the classic film twice in a row: Groundhog day for real! - once in the original version and then in the German version!