Rating (3.5 out of 5)

Happy Death Day successfully merges Groundhogs Day with a thriller, with a sprinkling of college life. This isn’t an academy award winner but I was entertained and was impressed by the efficient execution of a predictable story.

Plot: A young sorority woman Tree (Jessica Rothe) wakes up in a boys dormitory room after a night of partying. This is the starting point for her to relive her birthday, because each night she is murdered, and restarts the day back in the dormitory.  The only way she can get to the next day is to stop her murderer.

What I Liked:  Similar to Groundhog Day you have to spend the first 15 to 20 minutes setting up the characters and days events.  After the introduction, the story progresses as Tree becomes a better person and solves the mystery to her deaths. The director made each day fresh, adding or subtracting elements.

How much is there really to say, it is Groundhogs Day.  Here are few other moments I liked.

• The progression of her eliminating possible suspects was simple but humorous.
• Tree is setup as a party girl and assumed to be weak.  However, she fights back each time and showed strength even though she kept getting killed.
• The part where she talks to her dad when she is trying to get her day right was nice and an unexpected tender moment.

What I Didn’t Liked: I am not overly fond of the stereotyping Hollywood makes about sororities and fraternities, having been a member myself. The depiction of the sorority here is unjust.  As an example, they pick on the young black woman because of her food selection (picture below) The walk of shame is fine, because that happens to men and women, fraternity, sorority or non-affiliated.

Conclusion: If you hate Groundhogs Day you will hate Happy Death Day. If you enjoy the do over theme and like a good head bashing, you should watch this film. I know I will watch this again.