Sorry this is up so late, I had a lot of driving to do today.
Here are the rules this week: Bill Murray had to play a starring role (Ed Wood and Royal Tenenbaums don’t count), I have to have seen the film.
Bill Murray is perhaps my favorite actor. His style of comedy really works with me, and I think he’s made a lot of great films over the years. Here are the 10 best:
1996
Look,
I know that Bill Murray doesn’t get the most screen time in this movie, but he does play the main villain. And Scrooged just doesn’t belong on this list. So deal with it. King Pin isn’t the greatest movie, but it does have some jokes that warrant a laugh and Bill Murray’s funny in it, at least. It’s not bad.
1991
Perhaps not the defining work of Bill Murray’s career, What About Bob still provides plenty of laughs by pitting the intellectual psychiatrist Richard Dreyfuss against an obsessive-compulsive Bill Murray. The situations are amusing, both actors do a fine job, and you know, it’s fun to watch.
1981
Harold Ramis and Bill Murray take on the military in this comedy classic. While most people seem to forget that there’s more to this movie that the parts in boot camp, the whole film is hilarious. Whether its Bill Murray leading the troops with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” or John Candy mud-wrestling, this is a lot of fun.
7. Broken Flowers
2005
Ah, modern Bill Murray. While it looked like this would just be some really depressing story about midlife crisis, its actually just a kind-of depressing story about midlife crisis. Don Johnston sets out on a journey to meet five women that could have mothered his child years ago. The journey we take is an emotional one, but it still has plenty of laughs. Why don’t you check it out, I did rank it higher than Stripes.
6. Caddyshack
I had a tough time deciding whether or not this film counted. I think in the end, though, despite the strength of the rest of the cast, Bill Murray gets mentioned a lot when people talk about this film. So I put it on here. But to be fair, I kept it out of the top 5. And you know what? There’s nothing you can do about it. Seriously though, if you haven’t seen this movie, might as well go do it. It one of the golden comedies, like Animal House.
5. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2004
How controversial! I loved this movie. A lot of people did not. This is definitely one of those movies you either get or you don’t. It seems like the majority don’t. But you know, this is my list. I probably shouldn’t have ranked it so high, but it’s because of you haters out there that it ended up this far back. I making this a rule from now on, if it’s #5-1 on this list, you should see it.
4. Lost in Translation
2003
Bill Murray does Japan. His name’s Bob Harris this time around, and he’s an American actor doing commercials in Japan while going through midlife crisis. Scarlett Johansen is staying in the same hotel with her husband. She meets Bob and we get to see a very interesting love story unfold. Waist-deep in Japanese culture, comedy, and romance, Lost in Translation is one of those movies that really sticks with you.
3. Rushmore
Arguably Wes Anderson’s gr
eatest film so far, Rushmore pits Bill Murray against Jason Schwartzman in a contest to win the affection elementary school teacher Olivia Williams. This is a brilliant little film that totally blew me away the first time I saw it. It was also the starting point of Murray’s “second career” in more tragic comedy films. 2. Ghostbusters
1984 Do I even need to give a reason for this? Nope. 1. Groundhog Day
1993 One of the funniest films ever made, I have watched this dozens of times and enjoyed each viewing. The story is a classic, the characters are great, the execution is phenomenal. If you didn’t like this film, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you. Maybe you hate movies. You jerk. I hate you. Damn, sorry about that. It’s just that Groundhog Day kicks ass. Watch it. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again.
Another list, complete. Go out and get your Bill Murray on!