The Shawshank Redemption is for sure a great movie... personnaly i would not have thinking about that one. not that I don't like but just because it would not have come to my mind.
I m sure anyway that few people might not be interrested into it, i watched it with few other people and some of them found it too slow, too long
...
My feeling for a universally watchable movie is that it probaly not exist as one single film but more as few of them to select depending on the mood of the watchers and the conditions they look at it. There is movies that I like a lot but that I could not watch at any time.
Sometime just an "easy" movie with many special effect and no need to understand anything will be just what i look for... but some others days Donnie Darko will be my favorite movie.I personally took care to understand it and I found it very good, it s really one of themovie I like the most.
I don't know what you think about it but The Green mile would also be a kind of movie like The Shawshank Redemption, but even if I like this movie a lot some days it might just not be what I am looking for !