Comedy is by nature a genre or redemption. Comedy in the movies, just like comedy in other media, is constructed upon a foundation of cruelty that appeals to the baser emotions of humanity. Actions and situations that would draw outrage or tears in a drama narrative can produce uncontrollable belly laughs when the exact same situations are inserted into a comedic narrative. Ultimately, however, comedy is defined in opposition to tragedy by virtue of the fact that all that pain which produces laughter ends on a redemptive note. By definition, redemption is not even possible in tragedy.
Groundhog Day need not have been a comedy. As any number of storylines on TV which the film has inspired can attest, there is nothing inherent comedic about the situation facing Phil Connors. In fact, if anything, the world he finds himself in verges closer to horror than either comedy or drama. Overlooking the redemptive quality of a comedy is far more likely than missing it as the point of a drama because in the very best comedies, emotional manipulation is downplayed to a greater extent than in drama. For proof of this, look no farther than the unlamented and thankfully brief popularity of a certain type of story known as the “Very Special Episode.” Here is a case where comedy suffers due to its now existing for no other reason than providing a lesson redemption.
Or, to get to the point: Groundhog Day is a comedy of redemption. It takes Phil Connors perhaps several lifetimes reliving the same day over and over again to finally attain redemption for being a pompous, narcissistic, mean-spirited, angry jerk. That is clearly a story which could have been told in a far more dramatic way (or a far more comedic way, for that matter; not to mention a completely horrific way), but opting for any other genre would have telegraphed the ending. The subtle beauty of comedy that Groundhog Day exploits so effortlessly that it is very easy to underestimate it (as most critics did upon release) is that even though comedy is intrinsically redemptive, that seems like a concept a little too heady for the lowly laugh factory. Especially a comedy starring Bill Murray when he was a just a star at the goofy end of the comedic spectrum and not yet the cultural icon he is now. Add in the misdirection of Groundhog Day being that most unphilosophical and predictable of all movie genres—the Romantic Comedy—and virtually nobody saw its status as one of the most profound Hollywood examinations of redemption coming.
Four years after the film was released, the movie’s initial critical reception was forever and infamously imprinted in time with the 1997 publication of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: “GD is a slight fantasy; it is of interest primarily because, largely through an adroit screenplay, it avoids the tedium its theme of repetition might all too easily have incurred.”
It took a whole lot of rewatching of Groundhog Day for many critics to finally seek their own redemption by swallowing their pride and revising their initial opinion of the film.
