Groundhog Day All Over Again

When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I shudder. I hate that question. In fact, don’t ever ask me what my favorite anything is. The things I love in this world have a depth of variety and a multi-faceted nature that make it impossible to anoint one as “the best.” Ask me what “some of my favorite movies” are, however, and I will eventually tell you “Groundhog Day”.

As anyone who loves this sometimes romantic, sometimes black, always clever comedy starring Bill Murray and directed by Harold Ramis will tell you, there are hundreds of reasons “Groundhog Day” is a great movie. Personally, I’m always fascinated by high-concept stories that require a suspension of disbelief and defy logic in order to explore big ideas. “Groundhog Day” leaves us no choice but to ponder what we would do if we were forced to relive the same day over and over again.

Sometime after falling in love with “Groundhog Day,” I was surprised to learn that despite taking place in Punxsutawney, Penn., the movie was filmed in Woodstock, Ill., but as a Chicagoan and suburbanite my whole life, I assumed any town in Illinois I’d never heard of was “down south,” a long ways away with the rest of non-Chicago Illinois. As it turns out, Woodstock is 60 miles northwest of the city, just an hour and 20 minutes away, and it turned out I knew someone who not only lived there, but also whose dad chaired the town’s annual Groundhog Day committee.

Read the whole piece at Oy!Chicago.com