The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 98

Seeing his shadow again and again Comic vet Bill Murray returns to form as well in clever thoughtful and funny By ROBERT BUTLER Arts and Entertainment Editor How it rates a comedy is rated PG for some language Running time is 1 hour 41 minutes Andie MacDowell and Bill Murray in MOVIE REVIEW has such a fiendishly clever premise that it would work even if it star Bill Murray Suppose you were caught in a time warp Every morning the radio alarm awakens you to the same dumb Sonny Cher song and the same stupid patter from two cornpone disc jockeys The same annoying acquaintance hails you on the same street comer at the same time every morning You eat in the same cafe and go to sleep in the same bed and when you awaken 6 am and Sonny Cher are on the radio and you already know everything going to happen that day because exactly like the day before and the day before that the fate cooked up for Pittsburgh TV weatherman Phil Connors (Murray) in the screenplay by director Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin Feb 2 Groundhog Day and the reluctant Phil has been assigned once again to schlep over to Punxsu-tawney Pa to cover the most elaborate Groundhog Day celebration filled with verbal physical and even thematic gags that satisfy on several levels simultaneously Ramis whose directing efforts have been more pig bladder than bon mot exhibits a surprisingly stylish side dishing up several sequences that hilariously illustrate how over a course of days Phil manipulates his unique environment to achieve a desired (and usually self-gratifying) end Murray wears his curmudgeonly and jaundiced character like a second skin MacDowell provides just the right dose of idealistic sincerity and the supporting cast is all very good As far as movie theaters are concerned going to be Groundhog Day for the next few weeks learning to speak French Trouble is Rita a pushover like Nancy and Phil has only one day Groundhog Day in which to claim his conquest The next day have to start over from scratch Eventually this repetition drives our hero to the edge and he repeatedly kills himself: toaster in the bathtub swan dive off the roof flaming highway wreck But Phil stay dead Next thing he knows 6 am and Sonny Cher are playing on the radio Talk about your existential dilemma! In a sort of variation of the old Christmas bit our hero slowly comes to realize that altruism is the best policy and along the way falls in love for the first time This is without doubt the wittiest Bill Murray film ever A selfish cynic Phil cannot abide the brainless fun this event provides His hatred of the pleasant little burg erupts in nasty digs at his colleagues the cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) and his insufferably chirpy producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) A blizzard forces the three to spend an extra night in Punxsu-tawney and Phil goes to sleep dreaming of the big city But when he awakens still Groundhog Day and he has to endure all the stupid festivities all over again first thought is panic He hales this place and escape is impossible because every afternoon the same paralyzing blizzard But as the days (well actually the same day) go by he realizes that if no tomorrow then there are no consequences for actions You can do whatever you like You even have to floss But you can set up an elaborate seduction Phil meets an attractive young woman named Nancy (Marita Geraghty) engages her in conversation and the next day meets her all over again only this time passing himself off as an old school chum using information he learned from her earlier Phil also knows exactly when he can walk up to a security truck and lift a satchel of money while the guard looking After all sat in the park dozens of times watching the same scene unfold Only trouble is he has to spend the money that day be gone in the morning Looking for diversion Phil next sets his sights on Rita Learning that she loves 19th-century French poetry Phil spends days Out of trauma a tragicomedy MOVIE REVIEW How it rates a drama is rated for language and violence Running time is 1 hour 42 minutes Secrets and dreams drive the behavior of characters By ROBERT BUTLER Arts and Entertainment Editor The heroine of Jonathan could be extremely off-putting Happily the film stars Michelle Pfeiffer so instead of retreating from a clearly unbalanced personality we stick around to see what develops This empathetic social drama rises above its melodramatic elements to capture a pivotal moment in our national and cultural history Lurene Hallett (Pfeiffer) dumb exactly but whatever intellect she has is devoted to the worship of the current first lady Jacqueline Kennedy A Dallas beautician Lurene has set her blonde hair in a Jackie do and sews her own pastel two-piece suits with matching pillbox hats When Lurene learns that the Kennedys will visit Dallas she badgers her dubious husband (Brian Kerwin) into letting her drive to Love Field the local airport to welcome the visitors It is of course the day the president is assassinated In the aftermath of this devastating moment Lurene decides she must share grief by attending funeral Hubby thinks nuts so Lurene escapes on an eastbound bus On board she strikes up a conversation with a reluctant young black man Paul Cater (Dennis Haysbert) and his nearly mute daughter Jonell (Stephanie McFadden) Paul thrilled with this not only is Lurene a font of pointless babble but the other passengers are giving him wary looks And particularly offended when Lurene insists on reminding him of all the good things the late JFK did for Negroes It turns out that both Lurene and Paul have secrets She has never quite recovered from the loss of a prematurely bom child like she notes) Paul has snatched his daughter from a brutal foster home where she was placed after the death of Dennis Haysbert and Michelle Pfeiffer in 'Love Field' her mother His hope is to get the child safely back to his family in Philadelphia Before long the three become fugitives driving a stolen car through hostile Southern back roads Paul wants to leave Lurene behind a black man accompanied by a peroxided white woman might as well pin a to his shirt But she has fallen for little Jonell and besides she has to be in Washington for the funeral The relationship that develops among these three characters forms the emotional core of and the playing could hardly be better Pfeiffer takes a good many risks Her Lurene is often irritating and the characterization makes some dizzying swings between dumb-blonde hilarity and emotional Kaplan who directed Jodie Oscar-winning turn in gets a fine performance from Pfeiffer and he perfectly captures the moods and attitudes that dominated that traumatic November weekend in 1963 Here he develops a tragicomic tone filled with delicate moments Even when Don screenplay resorts to manipulation or becomes painfully earnest Kanlan anH mmnanv kfiCD things devastation It works largely because of ability to match an outward fragility both physical and emotional with an inner resolve Lurene turns out to be a very tough determined individual Haysbert makes a terrific impression as Paul in a performance that suggests the Sidney Poitier school of quiet decency and little Stephanie McFadden is a silent scene-stealer as the daughter G-4 The Kansas City Star Friday February 12 1993 JO.