Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

TonyMontana96 (Originally reviewed: 10/01/2017) I do not recall a single laugh in this painfully unfunny piece of work. Wilder and Pryor have comedic chemistry but the script of Stir Crazy forces them to improvise, making the humor come off as embarrassing. I do not understand what people saw in this film back in 1980, gags such as two guys dancing around in a jailhouse pretending to be crazy and a gay stereotypical guy (who is also black) are just embarrassingly pathetic, rather than one bit amusing. There is but small things preventing this from being a total zero, some hot chicks dancing in a strip club and a small scene involving Wilder and JoBeth Williams, where there is some hint at witty dialogue, which can at least draw a smile from me, if nothing else with the exception of a line in the same scene, where Wilder says " More Americans should go to jail" (because he enjoys it) and his lawyer played by Len Garber says " Oh don't worry, more Americans will". On the other hand none of this can prevent the onslaught of boredom that sinks in afterwards. Stir Crazy has one half of alleged comedy, then has a change of agenda by becoming a prison break thriller in the second half ,as they do not make any further attempt at humor. What on earth were they thinking? If I ever do get into a conversation with someone who mentions See No Evil, Hear No Evil being a better comedy, I will reply, but of course See No Evil, Hear No Evil was funnier, but then again so was the Titanic.

lacicalifornia I first watched this movie as a kid in cinemas I had to go and watch it like 10 more times.my stomach was in cramps every time and tears were coming out of my eyes of laughter.Right from the beginning jokes and one liners.At the lunch when Henry finds out his drug was used as oregano.The Californian earthquake line as epic as any. But of course the most funny scenes are in prison,especially when they pretend the are bad.Unforgettable! I cannot analyse this movie or any other the way critics do.As long as I like it and entertains me or makes me thinking then it works for me. The only flaw of this one probably the last 10 minutes of it,when you don't get any more laughter only the outcome of their attempt to escape from prison.But even this works as the storyline requires an ending. The team of Wilder and Pryor at their very best.U wanna have a good time u must watch this!!!

Spikeopath Stir Crazy is directed by Sidney Poitier and written by Bruce Jay Friedman. It stars Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Miguel Angel Suarez, Georg Stanford Brown, JoBeth Williams and Erland Van Lidth. Plot has Pryor and Wilder as two care free New York buddies who after getting fired from their jobs decide to make their way to Hollywood in search of better fortunes. However, after taking up a gig as promotional woodpeckers for a bank's advertisement drive, they find themselves framed for robbing the bank and sentenced to 125 years each in prison…..The second pairing of Wilder and Pryor proves to be the best of their output on film. With their chemistry skin tight, film is full of laughs until a big slow down for the last third when the inevitable attempt at a prison break out occurs. Poitier's direction isn't up to anything other than correctly letting his two lead stars strut their stuff. But along with writer Friedman, he has to be accountable for letting the comedy dry up as the film chooses tension over humour which undoubtedly doesn't sit at all right. Still, the first hour is a joy ride, particularly once the guys land in prison, here the comedy reaches its peak and the contrast of the two characters played by Wilder and Pryor really mines the set-up for all is worth. Wilder is oblivious to the hazards of prison life, Pryor is street savvy and fully aware of the perils around every brick walled corner.Naturally there's a hope on the horizon, which here comes in the form of Rodeo skills, this too brings the laughs, as does the number of prison characters that join in the plot. Notably Van Lidth's monstrous, and monstrously funny, Grossberger. Yes it's a roll call of prison stereotypes, from the top where the morally dubious Warden (Barry Corbin) sits, down to the cons where gays, bullies and gate happy loonies reside. With that, some of it now seems twee and badly out of date. So much so it's a film that is unlikely to garner a new and appreciative audience. However, those who were enamoured and found themselves laughing heartily with it back in the early 80s, should find that like myself, it holds up real well. Kind of like an old friend you call on when you need a pick me up. Hardly a superior comedy classic, then, but a film that rewards its fans on each subsequent revisit. 7/10

Paul Andrews Stir Crazy starts in New York City as best friends Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) & Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are both fired from their jobs on the same afternoon, drowning their sorrows in a local bar Skip tells Harry that he is fed up with New York & convinces his friend that they should set off on a road trip across the US to Hollywood to find their fame & fortune. Harry agrees but their old van breaks down in a small town called Glenboro, needing money to pay for the repairs Skip & Harry are hired by a bank to sing a song dressed as Woodpeckers. Two local crooks steal the Woodpecker costumes & rob the bank for which Skip & Harry are blamed, they go before a judge, found guilty & sentenced to one hundred & twenty five years each behind bars in state prison. Both Skip & Harry are unprepared for the harsh reality of prison & decide to use the upcoming rodeo to escape...Directed by Sidney Poitier this is the sort of film that you will get & roll around on the floor laughing or find crude & unfunny, comedy like so much else is subjective & what makes one person laugh will not necessarily make the guy sitting next to him laugh so when I say that I thought Stir Crazy was often quite hilarious it's only my own personal opinion as I know quite rightly the person I was standing next to in the que at the bus stop may not. Simple. I won't say that you will find Stir Crazy as funny as I did but I think you would need to be pretty devoid of emotion not to find at least some of it amusing & as I said I think it's often outright hilarious. The film starts off almost entirely as a showcase for the comedic pairing of Wilder & Pryor with some terrific scenes including the Woodpecker dance, the 'I'm bad' scene in jail, some priceless one-liners & reactions to the general likability of the two leads as they turn the material into gold. However once the rodeo aspect & jail break angle kicks in during the second half of the film the comedy seems to take a back seat as gambling, cheating & an odd jail break (why did Harry have to go back into the rodeo? Why couldn't Rory & Jesus climb up the shaft & into the popcorn thing like Harry & Skip do?) take center stage. Also the ending is a little silly & unsatisfying in it's attempt to finish as quickly as possible, sure Harry & Skip have been acquitted but that still leaves the fact they broke out of jail & helped two other convicted criminals including a murderer to escape too. While I am poking holes in the plot would a lawyer's niece really get a job in a topless bar just on the off chance she might see a guy with a particular tattoo? Now that's going above & beyond the call of duty, unless of course she needed the extra money as well.Shot in a real Arizona prison this has good production values & is well made for what it is although there's no real action apart from some rodeo footage of horses & bulls thrashing around. While there is plenty of bad language & profanity there's no violence to speak of. Apparently Richard Pryor refused to wear the Woodpecker suit while filming but strangely did wear for the poster & promotional materials.Apparently a big success at the time even though the critics generally hated it, some of the country & western style music & songs are a little nerve grating & distracting but nothing too major. The acting is good, Wilder & Pryor in particular are brilliant here as a pairing & it's said a lot of scenes were improvised between the two. Even though their character's never meet in Stir Crazy both JoBeth Williams & Craig T. Nelson went on to star in the excellent Poltergeist (1982) a couple of years later.Stir Crazy is a film that I found extremely funny, Wilder & Pryor are on top form & while the logistic's of the story seem to have been shoved to one side Stir Crazy is just a film to be enjoyed & not taken too seriously.