A best picture nominee? It doesn't begin to be worthy

Rating: 6/10 (16 February 2000)

A film that is not worthy of the Best Picture nomination it has received. My biggest complaint is that all the characters are static from beginning to end. Characters who are good stay good, characters who are bad stay bad, and no one changes - this is more a chain of incidents than a real "story."
But, furthermore, as a representation of Death Row, The Green Mile comes off as artificial. All the guards (save one) are essentially good-hearted, laid-back, and a little too generally relaxed for their occupation. None of the inmates (again, save one) seem to deserve to be there. It's a happy-go-lucky environment where they occasionally execute somebody. What a statement (though, I do give the movie credit for at least treating the executions themselves seriously).
And the mouse - goodness, the mouse. I'm sorry, but I find cute, little rodents to be out of place in serious drama. For the purposes of this film, I guess it's supposed to illustrate the humanity of one of the inmates, but it comes off as a cheap attempt to try and manipulate the audience into some kind of "Aw, Shucks" mindset.
Not that The Green Mile is a bad movie, but it is nothing more than a mediocre, functional film elevated only by a fantastic performance from Michael Clarke Duncan (receiving the only Oscar nomination I think this movie warrants). Darabont and Hanks have both done better work and, for that matter, so has King. 6/10