my backlash vote

Rating: 1/10 (19 July 2008)

Saying this is the #2 movie of all-time is like saying McDonald's makes the best hamburgers. They're both palatable, predictable, inoffensive products that are easy to digest. Both have happy endings-- that is, if you find the stunning speed with which a McDonald's hamburger flushes out your digestive tract to be a "happy" occasion.
All you need to know is that Shawshank has the exact same ending as "Trading Places." So why not make "Trading Places" the greatest comedy of all-time?? What the hell, why not make it #3 on IMDb? It too is competent and utterly middle-of-the road in terms of quality and originality within its genre.
Instead of Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy laughing it up on a Caribbean beach after besting the forces of evil, we get Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. It's the exact same ending! Shawshank was OK when I saw it when it came out. But count me among the backlash group that would rather see it with the 6-7 rating that it deserves. Thusly, I hereby cast my symbolic 1-star vote.