Groundhog Day 5 Ways Phil Connors Is Bill Murrays Best Character (& 5 Alternatives)
Groundhog Day: 5 Ways Phil Connors Is Bill Murray’s Best Character (& 5 Alternatives)
Contents
- 1 Groundhog Day: 5 Ways Phil Connors Is Bill Murray’s Best Character (& 5 Alternatives)
- 1.1 10 Phil Is The Best: He’s A Lovable Curmudgeon
- 1.2 9 Alternative: Carl Spackler (Caddyshack)
- 1.3 8 Phil Is The Best: He Has A Unique Relationship With The Audience
- 1.4 7 Alternative: Baloo (The Jungle Book)
- 1.5 6 Phil Is The Best: Murray Saved The Movie From Becoming Too Sweet
- 1.6 5 Alternative: Herman Blume (Rushmore)
- 1.7 4 Phil Is The Best: Groundhog Day Is Ultimately A Character Study
- 1.8 3 Alternative: Bob Harris (Lost In Translation)
- 1.9 2 Phil Is The Best: He Has A Real Character Arc
- 1.10 1 Alternative: Dr. Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)
Bill Murray was comedy gold as reporter Phil Connors in Groundhog Day. But the veteran actor has several other superb performances worth remembering.
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Bill Murray has played a ton of memorable roles across his storied career as one of the most hilarious and revered stars in film comedy. From his early work in classics like Meatballs, Stripes, and Tootsie to his later work with auteurs like Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola, Murray has cultivated a legacy as one of the all-time greatest icons of the silver screen.
Arguably Murray’s best character is Phil Connors, the news reporter who gets stuck reliving one of the worst days of his life over and over again in Groundhog Day, but there are plenty of great alternatives in the actor’s filmography.
10 Phil Is The Best: He’s A Lovable Curmudgeon
Bill Murray’s screen persona, especially as he’s gotten older, is defined by being a lovable curmudgeon. He’s always miserable and complaining about things, but in a lovable way.
It’s a difficult balance to pull off, but Murray is the best of the best at it. With his self-important attitude and dry wit, Phil Connors is the quintessential lovable curmudgeon.
9 Alternative: Carl Spackler (Caddyshack)
Harold Ramis allowed his improv-adept cast to deviate wildly from the script when they were shooting Caddyshack. One of the best improvisers in the movie was Bill Murray, playing dim-witted groundskeeper Carl Spackler.
From his entirely ad-libbed “Cinderella story” monologue to his ongoing battle with the gopher tearing up the golf course, Carl is arguably the funniest character in the film.
8 Phil Is The Best: He Has A Unique Relationship With The Audience
For every other character in Groundhog Day, the day that Phil is endlessly reliving is just another day. Only Phil is experiencing the time loop, so he has a unique relationship with the audience.
Phil is completely alone in his unusual experiences, but those watching are right there with him. Murray never breaks the fourth wall, but there is an element of winking to the audience.
7 Alternative: Baloo (The Jungle Book)
Most of Disney’s live-action remakes of its animated classics have fallen flat, because all the changes they’ve made to their near-perfect source material have been for the worse, but Jon Favreau managed to improve on The Jungle Book with his remake.
The remake’s script tied the story together better than the original collection of vignettes, while the A-list stars were all brilliantly cast in their roles — particularly Bill Murray as carefree bear, Baloo.
6 Phil Is The Best: Murray Saved The Movie From Becoming Too Sweet
The reviews for Groundhog Day were consistent in praising Bill Murray’s performance. Some critics noted that the movie could’ve become too sweet if any other actor had played Phil.
Murray’s authentic cynical edge saved the movie. It could’ve fallen into It’s a Wonderful Life territory and lost its credibility as a full-on comedy without Murray’s efforts.
5 Alternative: Herman Blume (Rushmore)
Bill Murray clearly had a lot of fun playing a parody of Jacques Cousteau when Wes Anderson gave him the title role in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, but the greatest character he’s played for the famously quirky director is Herman Blume, an industrialist in a failing marriage, in Rushmore.
Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson wrote the part of Blume with Murray in mind, but didn’t think they could get him to read the script. Rushmore ended up giving Murray’s career a second wave in indie movies.
4 Phil Is The Best: Groundhog Day Is Ultimately A Character Study
What makes Groundhog Day work so well is that it’s a character study. It’s not about a time loop; it’s specifically about Phil himself being caught in a time loop. Reporting on a groundhog in Punxsutawney is the worst day imaginable for Phil, and he has to spend the whole movie living it over and over again.
Phil’s response to endlessly reliving the same day is some of the best character work in movie history. Whether Phil is enjoying the freedom of the time loop or trying to kill himself, Bill Murray nails every emotion.
3 Alternative: Bob Harris (Lost In Translation)
Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation is the story of two lost souls who find each other in Japan. Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte, a college graduate who isn’t sure what to do with her life, while Bill Murray plays Bob Harris, a fading Hollywood movie star who’s out there to shoot a commercial.
While Johansson plays Charlotte’s optimism at the beginning of her life, Murray contrasts it with Bob’s cynicism toward the end of his own.
2 Phil Is The Best: He Has A Real Character Arc
In a lot of poorly written Bill Murray vehicles, the actor is required to come onto the set and wisecrack his way through various comical situations, but growth and character development aren’t necessarily required.
Throughout Groundhog Day, though, Phil has a real character arc. In order to escape the time loop, he has to learn to care less about himself and more about the people close to him.
1 Alternative: Dr. Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)
There’s no way that Ghostbusters would’ve worked nearly as well without Bill Murray. Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis didn’t put too much stock into the dialogue when they were writing the script, because they knew they would just ad-lib dialogue on the set, as would their co-star.
Murray’s dry comic sensibility fit the role of Peter Venkman like a glove. He’s responsible for some of the movie’s funniest moments, like “We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!” and “Yes, it’s true…this man has no d**k.”
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