If you can say overrated, I can say Shawshank Redemption

Rating: 6/10 (15 November 2001)

In the long and storied history of cinema, there have always been those films, which are undoubtly overrated. However, none before and none since have been more overrated then The Shawshank Redemption. While the Shawshank Redemption is not a waste of your viewing times by any means, it is not the pinnacle of film making. The performances are good, especially Freeman, but I'm not too high on the way the plot works out. It doesn't really break any new ground, a man is wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn't commit(Wow, that's new!!), and learns to cope with his new circumstances, while befriending the prison veterans. While the audience learns a valuable lesson about the determination and courage of the human spirit! I don't know about you all, but when Robbins escapes from prison during a dramatic thunderstorm, there were more then a few tears coming down my face. When I see something like this rated in the top 10 films of the 1990s let alone of all time, I have to wonder about people's taste in general. The message of the movie isn't incredibly powerful nor is the plot. How can anyone consciously say this movie was the best ever? It boggles my mind, but I have a few theories. First this movie is recent enough and shown on TNT enough (like 5 times a month), that alot of people have seen it more then once. Younger people (I'm talking teens and twenties), who haven't seen many Dramas let alone the real "great" movies, will say this is the best. If you ask this same demographic what is the best comedy of all time, they are likely to say something like Happy Gilmore (which Caddyshack blows out of the water for best golf comedy). These are the kinds of people giving Shawshank it's highest praise, these people are sadly my generation.