2017’s “Happy Death Day”, directed by Christopher Landon.
Starring Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine,
Charles Aitken, Rob Mello, Rachel Matthews, and Phi Vu.
What is it about?
Stuck up college student Tree (Jessica Rothe) wakes up in a
college dorm, hungover and unsure of how she got there. The boy she thinks she
slept with (Israel Broussard) is helpful, but Tree is in a hurry to celebrate
her birthday with her sorority and manage her relationship with the married
professor/doctor she’s dating. Unfortunately, while on the way to her surprise
birthday party, Tree is murdered, and she wakes up at the beginning of that
very same day. Despite altering her routine, again she finds herself murdered,
and again wakes up at the beginning of the same day. Can Tree figure out how to
catch her murderer and break out of her time loop so she can celebrate her
birthday?
Why is it worth seeing?
1993’s “Groundhog Day” is a seminal classic, with virtually
no room for improvement (it wasn’t made by George Lucas so it won’t have any
digital characters inserted into the
original film to further realize his vision either). And easily the second best
version of the concept was 2014’s "Live.Die.Repeat",
where you got to gleefully watch Tom Cruise die over and over while he became a
fighting machine to combat aliens. Here, the focus becomes not necessarily on
becoming a better person, or on saving the planet, but instead on solving your
own murder so you can celebrate your birthday with the shallow sorority girls.
Due to the ham fisted and heavy handed (ham handed
fisticuffs?) character development, we know that the awkwardly named Tree’s
toxic personality will be somewhat less toxic as the movie advances, but it
doesn’t change the fact that Tree is much less likable as a person than when
compared to the woody perennial plant she shares a name with. As well, the
sorority that she belongs to seems to hate disabled people, food, and each
other. So I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s a challenge to cheer for Tree
to solve her murder so she can live. As well, the university’s mascot/logo of a
baby is just bizarre, leading to a killer who must be frustrated they can’t
transfer to “Scream” University for the superb dollar store masks.
“HDD”’s spin on “Groundhog Day” is somewhat interesting, but
it’s unfortunate that by the time the suspects’ list has been crossed off we’re
just hoping that Hollywood can break itself out of it’s production loop where
they recycle ideas ad infinitum. The movie even references “Groundhog Day”-
acknowledging what you should be watching instead.
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