At the time he made films like Groundhog Day, And Bob? And Mad dog and glory by the early ’90s, Murray had become a critics’ darling. The Washington Post Hal Hinson exclaimed of Harold Ramis’ classic time-loop comedy: “Murray is a breed of his own, a kind of gonzo minimalist.” And he’s never been funnier as a comedian or more in control as an actor than here. When he played alongside Robert De Niro, The New York Times Critic Vincent Canby wrote: “The great satisfaction of Mad dog and glory watch Mr. De Niro and Mr. Murray play against each other with such invigorating ease.

By the late ’90s, however, Murray was alternating between critical praise for films like Rushmore, which earned him awards from several critical organizations and was ripped apart for duds like The man who knew too little. Unfortunately, it seems that negative reviews are the ones that stuck in Murray’s head. You see, when he spoke to Squire magazine in 1998, Murray eviscerated those very critical bodies who had seen fit to reward him.

“The critics,” lamented Murray. “When they are right, they are right for the wrong reasons. And they are usually wrong.

He then launched into an article – admittedly entertaining – about the people who made up the New York Film Critics Circle, to which he had been invited. Murray laughed: “They all stood up – motley is not the word for this group. Everyone had some sort of vision problem, some sort of damage. I had to bury myself in my towel. As they continued, it got funnier and funnier. He then joked that the gathering of critics looked like they had been poisoned because they were not in a control group to receive an antidote.

Naturally, when Murray speaks, it’s often difficult to tell what to take seriously and what to consider a gag. However, there seemed to be some unease buried in this mostly spontaneous outburst of criticism, and the same thing happened again in 2015 when Murray spoke to NPR about his film Make the Kasbah vibrate.

In response to host Scott Simon asking Murray if he disagreed with critics saying he was playing a “Bill Murray character” In his films, he thought, “I don’t know exactly what they mean, Scott. I don’t know what you are referring to.

However, he later admitted that a quote from a review stuck with him and he still thinks about it every day he works. He said: “I don’t really read reviews, but I remember a review I read a long time ago that said I had a face like a potato. I come into work with this knowledge every day. I’m just a potato that won’t stop. I’m a potato with a few legs. Some have eyes; I have legs.

Once again, all of this raised an important question: Was Murray joking? Was this just a way to have fun during an interview, without any deeper meaning behind it? Or did some mean-spirited critic call Murray a potato in a review many moons ago, and it hurt him so much that he never forgot it? This remains a mystery to Murray.

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