'Stir Crazy' did it better.

Rating: 1/10 (28 February 2009)

This movie was inspired by the brilliant Stir Crazy starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. As an essay on prison life, Shawshank Redemption fails on every level that Stir Crazy managed to succeed on.
Shawshank is nowhere near as funny as Stir Crazy. There is not a woodpecker suited bank robbery to be found. There is no Grossberger, no homosexual black man hassling the heroes, no silly mania scenes. There is nothing here that even remotely comes close to emulating its predecessor.
The obvious links to the original are still there: Morgan Freeman in the Richard Pryor role and Tim Robbins as Gene Wilder. However, Robbins and Freeman are nowhere near Wilder and Pryor in the acting stakes and we end up feeling disappointed at their lack of conviction (no pun intended) in the roles.