Believe Care Invest: Groundhog Day

Why it might be hard to identify with Phil

• He’s a depressed jerk, working a dead end job and deluded about his prospects for finding a better one.

Believe

• The mundane reality of a weatherman, standing in front of a blank blue screen, make it feel real. Odd regionalisms like blood sausage make the setting believable. Phil’s got distinct language: As Larry says, “Did he actually call himself ‘the talent’?”

Care

• Just a bit, we agree with him that Rita’s perkiness is somewhat off-putting and identify with him for feeling like he wants something more out of life. We certainly share his exasperation with Needlenose Ned Ryerson. We identify with him when he steps in a puddle, all the more so because he was storming off in a huff when he did it.

Invest

• Even though he’s clearly not very happy, he’s also clearly a good entertaining weatherman, blowing on the map to make the clouds move, etc. His main prediction will turn out to be wrong, but we don’t know that yet.

Five Es

• Eat: He refuses to eat with his co-workers, then refuses breakfast as hit B&B the next morning, complaining that there’s no espresso and cappuccino. Later in the movie, he will eat ravenously.
• Exercise: No. He walks around town a little.
• Economic Activity: He’s doing his job, trying to get a better job
• Enjoy: Not at all
• Emulate: Not that I can tell.

Rise above:

• Well, he wants a better job, but he’s not ready to rise above his current one. Later, he walks off the job, but that might be considered “sink below”, not rise above.

High five a black guy

• No.