Impossibly overrated

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 2000)

Don't get me wrong - I liked this movie just fine, I just don't understand how it deserves the *heaps* of rapturous praise it regularly receives from IMDb members, and the fact that is has been ranked at #2 in the hallowed IMDb Top 250 for the past 8 years or so just baffles me. It was certainly entertaining enough, and very well-acted, but also way over-long, and filled with the usual stock characters that seem to inhabit every prison drama (if Hollywood movies are to be believed, prison wardens are mainly just nasty SOB's and the inmates are just the best bunch of guys you'd ever want to meet). I'd recommend the movie as a good renter, but I guess I can't see it as any more than that. I realize I am way in the minority on this, however.