The savage review that Bill Murray will never forget: “I walk into work with that knowledge every single day”
Bill Murray has always been an enigma, wrapped up in a riddle, wrapped up in a hangdog-faced comedy genius. He is simultaneously beloved by audiences for his roles in side-splitting classics like Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, yet also despised by many people in the business for his reported bad behaviour on sets. Murray has also always had a love-hate relationship with critics throughout the years: they mostly love him, while he mostly hates them. He once revealed there’s one savage review he’ll never forget, though – and he carries it with him every single day he steps in front of a camera.
After coming to fame on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s, Murray took Hollywood by storm in the ’80s with truly unique and hilarious parts in Meatballs, Caddyshack, and Stripes. He was soon one of the biggest names in comedy, with his trademark laconic, ironically removed sense of humour endearing him to audiences and critics alike. Throughout the rest of that decade, Murray starred in two Ghostbusters movies and Scrooged while also taking four years off to study history and philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
By the time he made movies like Groundhog Day, What About Bob? and Mad Dog and Glory in the early ’90s, Murray had become a critical darling. The Washington Post’s Hal Hinson gushed of Harold Ramis’ classic time-loop comedy, “Murray is a breed unto himself, a sort of gonzo minimalist. And he’s never been funnier as a comedian or more in control as an actor than he is here.” When he starred alongside Robert De Niro, The New York Times critic Vincent Canby wrote, “The great satisfaction of Mad Dog and Glory is watching Mr De Niro and Mr Murray play against type with such invigorating ease.”
By the end of the ’90s, though, Murray alternated between being lavished with praise from critics for movies like Rushmore, which landed him awards from several critical bodies to being torn apart for misfires like The Man Who Knew Too Little. Unfortunately, it seems like the negative write-ups were the ones that stuck in Murray’s head. You see, when he spoke to Esquire magazine in ’98, Murray eviscerated these very critical bodies that had seen fit to reward him.
“The critics,” lamented Murray. “When they’re right, they’re right for the wrong reasons. And they’re usually wrong.”
He then launched into an – admittedly entertaining – bit about the people who made up the New York Film Critics Circle, whose event he’d been invited to. Murray laughed, “They all stood up—motley isn’t the word for that group. Everybody had some sort of vision problem, some sort of damage. I had to bury myself in my napkin. As they kept going, it just got funnier and funnier looking.” He then joked that the gathering of critics looked like they’d been poisoned because they weren’t in a control group to receive an antidote.
Naturally, when Murray speaks, it’s often hard to tell what to take seriously and what to put down as a gag. However, there appeared to be some ill feeling buried in this mostly unprompted outburst at critics, and the same thing happened again in 2015 when Murray spoke to NPR about his film Rock the Kasbah.
In response to host Scott Simon asking Murray if he takes any issue with critics saying he plays a “Bill Murray character” in his films, he mused, “I don’t know what they mean exactly, Scott. I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
However, he then admitted that one review quote seared itself in his memory, and he still thinks about it every day he’s working. He claimed, “I don’t really read the reviews — but I remember one I read a long time ago that said I had a face like a potato. I walk into work with that knowledge every single day. I’m just a potato that won’t quit. I’m a potato with some legs. Some have eyes; I’ve got legs.”
Once again, it all begged an important question: was Murray just joking around? Was this just a way to amuse himself during an interview, with no deeper meaning behind it? Or did a mean-spirited critic call Murray potato-faced in a review many moons ago, and it hurt his feelings so much that he’s never forgotten it? It remains a Murray mystery.
