Prior and Wilder Are Superb (Stir Crazy (DVD))

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	Stir Crazy (DVD)
Date:	07/05/01 (136 review reads)
Rating:

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Gene Wilder and Richard Prior star in this superb comedy directed by George Roy Hill.

Wilder and Prior are two small town losers who decide to travel to the big city to make something of themselves. Well, they certainly do that, landing a job which requires them to wear woodpecker costumes...well its a start I suppose. Unfortunately for them, they choose the day that a pair of bank robber decide to use the same disguise to rob the city bank and naturally they are mistaken for these robbers and arrested - later being sentenced to 120 years in prison for the crime. Things look pretty grim as they find themselves sharing a cell with the most enormous inmate who completely fills the cell, squashing them againt the bars by his sheer girth. The prison warder has it in for them, the place is full of nuts and a couple of wise asses like these two can only go one way...However, salvation seems at hand when Wilder shows superb rodeo skills, which is just what the prison needs to win the rodeo competition against the rival prison who it always loses to, giving them the chance to win early release...

To be fair, this movie would have been absolutely useless were it not for the considerable comic talents of its two stars. The formula has been used before - several times, and there isn't one new joke in the whole hour and a half showing, but the performances are enough to save it. Wilder is his usual manic self, all mad hair and energy and Prior is superb as ever, making an unfunny script hilarious. Director Sidney Poitier tries his hardest as well to make themovie work and its a tribute to all three that the end result is this good - although thats not to say that it is a good movie. Generally, apart from Wilder and Prior the acting here is abysmal and the lack of originality does nothing to aid its case. The plot is weak, the script is dire and generally, were it not for the two leads it would have been a big no-no. As it stands, its a three star movie,
worth watching on its television release, but certainly not worth buying or renting.

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