Why so critical?

Rating: Null/10 (23 April 2000)

I had never heard of the movie till someone at a video store recommended I rent this and Shawshank Redemption, which I had also missed out on. What followed was the best evening's video-watching ever. Few disagree on the merits of Shawshank - a definite 10/10 and surely on anyone's top 5, but why the criticism of this yarn. It is well paced, beautifully filmed (down the road from here, not in Montana), held together by overblown but beautiful music, and a compelling narration. Perhaps you need to experience the stresses of brotherly love being torn apart by the arrival of a female on the scene to appreciate this film's emotional power. Yes it is silly and bizarre at times, but who could not be moved by its climactic ending. Try hard enough and you can rubbish any film, and this is probably easier to rubbish than most. But it has great merits and doesn't deserve all this criticism.