I know, I know, it’s Super Bowl Sunday. There was a
time I’d get all excited over this, and some people will recall SB parties at
our house in Grayslake, IL. I care a lot less about this stuff than I used to,
and some of you may have read a previous entry in this blog (“Pigskin Pigheads”)
in which I expressed my increasing disenchantment with most big-time sports,
and NFL football in particular. But I do still enjoy spectacle, and I know
several Broncos fans, so what the hell, bring on the cheese dip!
However, there is another big event occurring today, on the
same day as the Super Bowl for the first time in history: Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, I believe that Punxsutawney
Phil’s prognostications are limited to the weather. He has not been known to
handicap sporting events, to my knowledge.
The film GROUNDHOG DAY, written by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis
and directed by Ramis, was released to generally favorable reviews and decent
box office business in 1993. The reputation
of the film has grown steadily over the past twenty years, to the point where
it is now considered one of the classic American films of all time. More than
this, the film has come to be embraced by scholars, theologians, philosophers,
religious leaders, and a host of other deep thinkers as a thoughtful and moving
treatise on the meaning of life, death, love, mortality, among other things.
Hold on just a darn minute, you say! This is a Bill Murray
yuk-fest, and don’t you dare ruin it for me with your egghead philosophizing! I
couldn’t agree more, and the last thing I would ever think of is to diminish
the comic element of GROUNDHOG DAY. Laughter is one of our most spontaneous and
heartfelt emotions, which no amount of analysis will ever explain, thank Zod.
Comedy is the most difficult art form to pull off, IMNSHO, and this is why it
can be such a powerful medium for imparting deeper truths.
But deeper truths are never going to be imparted to anyone
by a yokel like me, and many people smarter than me have written extensively
about GROUNDHOG DAY. I love the film and watch it every Groundhog Day. It never
disappoints and I always see new things in it. I believe this little film resonates
with so many people because it offers the promise of hope and personal redemption
that everyone wants. The world is far
from a perfect place and we are far from perfect creations, but each day offers
each of us a fresh start to try to make each of our little words a little more
perfect. What else can we do?
I was never a huge fan of the late Chicago film critic Roger
Ebert, but I enjoyed his writing in general, and found that he could occasionally
rise above the mundane and produce work like the following. I feel this piece by Ebert speaks about
GROUNDHOG DAY was well as any I have read:
GOODBYE AMIGOS! SEE
YOU SOON! HAHA!!
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