Repeat Viewing Alert

Part existential fantasy, part romantic affirmation, part absurdist parable, Groundhog Day is also just plain funny, whether you spelunk its philosophical depths or just want to see a bucktoothed quadruped at the wheel of a truck. An essay last month on the high-minded film blog the House Next Door praised the 1993 Bill Murray comedy by evoking — convincingly — Albert Camus, It's a Wonderful Life, The Sopranos and English writer J.B. Priestley. So it makes sense to see it again at an institution of higher learning — in this case, Rockhurst University, where the school's Center for Arts and Letters and its philosophy department co-sponsor a screening tonight at 7. Debate the secular cynicism and spiritual recovery of weathercaster Phil Connors (Murray). Look for Jungian symbols in workaday Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (in the film, actually Woodstock, Illinois, which offered director and co-writer Harold Ramis a more Frank Capra-esque town square). Or just laugh. Rockhurst's Mabee Theater is in Sedgwick Hall, on the campus (between 53rd and 54th streets on Troost). Admission costs $3; call 816-501-4000 for details.— Scott Wilson
Wed., March 18, 7 p.m., 2009