How Regret Made Bill Murray A Better Person
Regret is an uncomfortable thing you have to live with - but it's part of life. Everybody makes mistakes and that's something we come to accept more as we get older. It's usually the aftermath of a bad decision and the people we have to face because of it, that makes the experience difficult to sit with. So it's only natural to look for an 'undo' button in hopes of erasing some of the damage. But I'd say the growth you go through in learning from it grossly outweighs covering it up and living with the denial. So the next time somebody says "I have no regrets", tell them they're missing out.
In this 90s comedy classic, Bill Murray plays Phil, a weatherman with a big chip on his shoulder. Sent to a small town in Pennsylvania to cover the local celebrations, Phil is mentally checked out before he even checks in for the overnight stay. What transpires is a sequence of outlandish events that changes Phil's life in the most profound way - and teaches him lessons he didn't think he needed teaching.
Director/Writer Harold Ramis and the lovable Bill Murray had already done wonderful things together in 'Caddyshack', 'Meatballs' and arguably the best comedy of all time. And although their proton packs were still warm from less than 4 years on the shelf, they returned to form in this beautifully orchestrated masterpiece for one last dance that captured lightning in a bottle once more.
But there's another side to this partnership that evolved over the course of this film and it's more drama than comedy. Murray was going through a nasty divorce and, understandably, becoming increasingly difficult to work with. After the last day of the shoot, he closed everybody off, including Ramis, and sadly the friendship ended.
'Groundhog Day' isn't just an endearing film about regaining momentum from the exhausting rat race we all endure. Everybody goes through that feeling of being trapped in a pointless, never-ending cycle and sometimes we make rash or even well-thought-out decisions that just don't pan out. When those decisions hurt our relationships with others, we're often too in the moment to notice - but every cloud has a silver lining and you'll be happy to know that Murray made it back to Ramis before he passed away - and they relived the good old days like somebody had just rewound their friendship and let them give it another go.
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