Stir Crazy

The show is full of car chases and scary escapes and all the action-film standbyes, but done tongue-in-cheek. Stir Crazy is mad, mad fun and deserves a place on the schedule. [17 Sep 1985]

An agreeable comedic hour that makes no intimidating demands. [18 Sep 1985]

This program will appeal to viewers who like car chases through crowded city streets, police cars leaping stretches of water onto the decks of ferry boats, lunch vans that go up in flames, food fights involving raw fish in prison dining rooms and the sight of two guys escaping from prison while dressed as Japanese geisha girls. [18 Sep 1985]

The madcap humor of the television version begins to wear noticeably thin halfway through the first hour.

Think of TV's Stir Crazy as only a slightly more sophisticated Dukes of Hazzard. ... If you really need this kind of "comedy" fix, my recommendation is to rent the movie once a week and watch it until the series is canceled. [17 Sep 1985]

Unfortunately, none of this is very funny. It's unfair to compare Guzaldo and Riley with Wilder and Pryor, so let's do it. The latter were not at their best in the theatrical version of "Stir Crazy," but provided enough punch to make the movie at least watchable and occasionally amusing. And they also had chemistry. Guzaldo and Riley have no chemistry. Nor do they appear to be very funny actors. Maybe it's the material.