Stir Crazy

Starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in their second collaboration together, Stir Crazy casts the comedic duo as friends sent to prison for a bank robbery they didn’t commit. Though it does possess a number of genuinely hilarious sequences – it is, for example, impossible not to get a kick out of the pollyannaish zeal with which Wilder’s character approaches his surroundings – Stir Crazy is ultimately undone by a distinctly unfunny, strangely melodramatic second half that can’t help but come off as needless and entirely anti-climactic. Screenwriter Bruce Jay Friedman eschews the wackiness of the opening hour in favor of an increasing emphasis on Wilder and Pryor’s efforts to escape, with much of the movie’s third act occurring virtually without dialogue inside the confines of an outdoor rodeo. To say that the film loses its focus is an understatement of ridiculous proportions, and one can’t help but wish that director Sidney Poitier had just let Wilder and Pryor do their thing. It’s due to actors’ undeniable chemistry that Stir Crazy is able to maintain an amiable vibe, though there’s little doubt that the movie is rarely as engaging as they are.

**1/2 out of ****