10. Groundhog Day (1993)

the day i went to go see it i was sick with a fever and had a really bad sore throat. but i really wanted to go to the movies with my friend Diana who lived in walking distance to the Promenade Mall where the movie was playing. i told my parents that i was feeling much better so that i could go, despite the fact that i had stayed home from school that day in bed and still felt like death warmed up. but of course, Bill made everything better...

i love this movie. it's such a good example of a film where Bill shows his deadpan humour and sarcasm. and it's the little things that make it so funny. like when he calls the anchorwoman "Hairdo." or when he's sitting in the living room watching Jeopardy in his pajamas with popcorn and Jack Daniels in his lap - he turns his head, looks at the b&b owner straight in the eye, and gives the answer before Alex Trebek even finishes the question: "what is the Rhone." notice there's no question-mark? he makes it a STATEMENT - his delivery and then the look on her face are CLASSIC. or when he's with Rita (on one of the sequence of days when he's adjusting his script to figure out what works best to bed her) and they're making that snowman... and he's SO impatient. like he can't f-cking take it anymore, and he's talking non-stop about himself, rushing through his words: "Golly, I want lots of kids! I want to adopt, I want to have my own, I want foster kids. I got this at Snowman City!" but he doesn't give her a chance to answer or speak because he just wants to bloody get on with it - the sound of urgency and irritation in Bill's voice in that quick scene is SO funny. and then his gassy smile after the snowball fight? when he tries to snuggle up to Rita to (unsuccessfully) replay the intimate moment they had previously shared when they fall in the snow - killer.

plus, i'm sorry - but Bill's super sexy in this movie. like ROAR sexy but in a cuddle kinda way. like in that scene when the day is going really well with Rita (who he has convinced, temporarily, of his never-ending day) and they're sitting on the bed talking and it turns to midnight? funny + sexy + soft = the perfect Bill trinity. and Groundhog Day just looks so bloody cozy. it's snowy and chilly and everyone is wearing soft sweaters and scarves and coats and mitts and there are snowmen and snowflakes and hot chocolate and danishes. seriously, it just makes me feel so good every year when i watch it on febraury 2nd. especially from bed.

i actually studied this movie in cinema class at UofT - it was on the f-cking syllabus. i chose to write my mid-term paper on the existential themes explored in the movie - i got an A. *fist pump* c'mon - what other comedy film is a favorite among Buddhists for its theme of man's constant struggle for self-improvement to ultimately becoming selfless? please. it's the perfect movie.

"I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get THAT day over, and over, and over...?" Phil Conners (Bill Murray) in Groundhog Day