Yes, it’s Groundhog Day here in the States (do they have it anywhere else besides here and Canada?), and that means a certain cable channel is showing Groundhog Day on a 24-hour loop (they did a very funny promo yesterday in which they showed the same thing three times), and it means that today’s Question wants to know what your favorite Bill Murray movie is. You know you have one!
Murray is still working, and he’s been working in movies for 50 years, so you have a lot to choose from! Will you pick his early stuff like Meatballs, Caddyshack, or Stripes? Will you pick a more serious movie like The Razor’s Edge or that weird Ethan Hawke Hamlet? Will you pick one of the Wes Anderson movies he’s made? Will you stick with the solid classics like Ghostbusters or the movie that inspired this post? Here’s his IMDb page, so have a look!
This is tough for me, because Murray has been in so many great movies. Caddyshack and Stripes are two of the better comedies you’re going to find, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day are excellent, Scrooged is really underrated, Wild Things is batshit insane, and Lost in Translation is sublime (and probably my #2 choice). I think, however, that my favorite Bill Murray movie is Rushmore. I haven’t seen all of Wes Anderson’s movies (not even a majority, to be honest), but Rushmore is my favorite of the ones I have seen, and Murray is excellent in it. It’s before Anderson became too twee for his own good, and Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Olivia Williams are all so good as the three people in a somewhat bizarre love triangle. It’s an odd movie but not too odd, and it’s partly because Murray and the others are so raw with their emotions that they overcome the oddness (which, as I noted, Anderson doesn’t overdo, which is nice). Murray really gets the “middle-aged man whose life kind of sucks” vibe, and his deadpan delivery works nicely in contrast to Schwartzman’s more … I won’t say manic, because he’s not, but let’s say … exuberant work. Murray does this sort of thing very well, of course, but he just hones it well in this movie. I couldn’t find any good video of his scenes, but here’s the trailer:
Murray has been nominated for one Academy Award in his life (for Lost in Translation, which he certainly deserved), and that’s not surprising, given the roles he plays and how he plays them. He’s a better actor than most people give him credit for, especially early in his career, when he played the “jerky funny guy” a lot (the Tom Cruise of comedies, you might say). Beginning around this time, though, it seemed people began taking him a bit more seriously as an actor, and I think Rushmore was the catalyst for that. Maybe I’m wrong. Either way it’s still my favorite Bill Murray movie. What’s yours?
I really like Murray, and yeah, he’s been in a ton of excellent films – including underrated comedic gems like The Man Who Knew Too Little and Bigger Than Life, or St. Vincent, which straddles the line between comedy and drama, or the more dramatic Broken Flowers.
But I’d say my favorite is Quick Change. I’ve seen it about a half-dozen times, and it never fails to entertain.
I haven’t seen Quick Change, but I’ve heard it’s very good. I remember that it did nothing at the box office, but it seems like a movie that confounds your expectations, especially at that time, so it took a while before people realized how good it was. I’ll have to watch it some day!
Lost in Translation is my number 1.
Groundhog Day is also great though
Yeah, Lost in Translation is excellent. I just like Rushmore a little more! 🙂
I’ve not seen Rushmore, I need to correct that.
This question is very much in my wheelhouse.
Not only is Groundhog Day my favorite Bill Murray movie, it’s my favorite movie, period. Fittingly, I can watch it over and over and not get sick of it. It’s both a silly 90s romcom and a philosophical, Capra-esque treatise on the death of ego. Love it to pieces.
Murray is one of my favorite performers, though, and I try to see everything he’s in, so it won’t surprise you to learn I think he’s got a number of great movies. I think he makes about one masterpiece every 10ish years, but we’re overdue for one.
My next favorite is probably Ghostbusters, followed closely by Ghostbusters II. Yes, it’s just as good as the first one, shut up.
I have seen all of Wes Anderson’s films, and my favorite remains The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Anderson’s movies started to become more and more like artisanal dioramas around this time (which is not a complaint), but there’s also a lot of grounded human emotion and regret.
I only watched St. Vincent the once, but it made me bawl. Also loved the underrated Razor’s Edge. And I believe Stripes is a classic. I know people grouse about the whole last act with the Battle Winnebago, but that’s what makes it such a great flick for me.
The nice thing about Groundhog Day is that there’s so much going on, so there’s always something new to see. It’s pretty impressive.
I don’t mind Ghostbusters II at all. I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first movie, but that might just be because the first was such a new and interesting concept.
I dig the end of Stripes. I don’t grouse about it, but I do know it was tacked on to make it longer. It does feel a tiny bit disjointed, but it’s still a fun part of the movie.
The first movie that comes to mind is Groundhog Day, but I liked Stripes and Ghostbuster too (with the great line : it’s true, he has no dick iirc).
Also liked his small roles in Ed Wood and Little Shop Of Horrors
I pick Ghostbusters
Runners-up – Quick Change, Wild Things and Fantastic Mr Fox
I don’t think I could say it any better than Bill Reed; Groundhog Day is just such a great movie, I think that has to be my pick. Lost in Translation is a fairly close 2, probably.
I have seen almost every Wes Anderson film, and Rushmore is great… I think his very best film is still The Grand Budapest Hotel, however (where Murray has but a cameo). Bill Murray’s role in Rushmore is a great part, but I just enjoy his role in Moonrise Kingdom more. Just more wholesome, and I can’t get enough of that vibe these days.
I would not call it a “Bill Murray movie” because it is very much a Dustin Hoffman/Jessica Lange joint, but Murray is a total scene-stealer in Tootsie, and that is one of my favorite comedies. It would threaten Lost In Translation for my #2 pick if I counted it as a film with Bill Murray in it vs. a Bill Murray film.
Favorite movie with Bill Murray would be Caddyshack; fun all the way through, hilarious, memorable lines and scenes. Favorite Bill Murray movie, where he was the headliner, would probably be Scrooged, with Stripes a close second. Scrooged has more nuances to it and Murray gets to play a wider range. Stripes is a sentimental favorite for spoofing the military. Plus, John Candy and Warren Oates.
Groundhog Day, Meatballs, Ghostbusters, in that order.
I’m a recovering summer camp counselor, haha!
GHOSTBUSTERS and GROUNDHOG DAY are too obvious, it’s uncool to pick them as a favorite.
Picking a Wes Anderson movie is cheating, Murray is powered up by a star-studded cast and directorial panache in all of them.
I don’t like LOST IN TRANSLATION.
So my picks are:
1. QUICK CHANGE – childhood favorite, don’t know if it holds up, haven’t seen it in a while. From what I remember, it’s Joker’s bank heist from THE DARK KNIGHT, but as a 90-minute, dark-ish comedy;
2. CHARLIE’S ANGELS – Murray isn’t really the reason why this movie is great, but I like it a lot;
3. KINGPIN – it’s funny.