The "smart" movie for people with simple tastes

Rating: 6/10 (13 December 2015)

This is the film that seems to make people excited that they can tell other film-lovers that they like, because it seems sophisticated. With it's captivating title and the feel-good story of friendship, it's about as complicated as most American movie-goers can get. This can be a decent one to keep on, if you switch to it on TV and have some laundry to fold. However, there are hundreds of films I'd rather watch to stimulate my mind. I would have said thousands but I've only seen slightly over a thousand films so far. I know that many people have a special place for this film in their heart, but they never really seem to stop and ask themselves "why?". Shawshank does have a few, fun gotcha-type moments, and the shot of Andy in the stream after escape is quite memorable. However, the film itself is not one of those birds whose feathers are too bright that "are not meant to be caged." This film needs to stay shelved when we are discussing the greats. It can find itself comfortably and appropriately filed between Shallow Hal and Shiloh.