Groundhog Day (BFI Film Classics)

Groundhog Day (1993), directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray, is widely regarded as one of the most original and enduring films of 1990s Hollywood.What begins as a high-concept romantic comedy about a cynical television weatherman forced to repeatedly relive the same day soon deepens into a tale of despair and renewal, coloured by existential unease and the spirit of Samuel Beckett. In this engaging study, Ryan Gilbey traces the film’s unlikely journey from Danny Rubin’s speculative script, centred on a man condemned to eternity in a small town, to its transformation into a studio classic.Drawing on fresh interviews with Rubin, Gilbey explores the inspired casting of Murray and Andie MacDowell, the film’s quietly radical structure, and the delicate balance between comedy and melancholy that gives Groundhog Day its lasting power. This new edition includes an afterword in which Gilbey reflects on the film’s continuing cultural impact, its themes of repetition and despair assum