• Oliver And Hardy Movies

The temptation for headline writers everywhere, one can imagine, will be to describe the flawed but embraceable Laurel and Hardy biopic 'Stan & Ollie' as 'another fine mess.' That one's just too. Jan 7, 2018 - Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel take a hay ride in movie art from the film. Were asked about their upcoming Robin Hood adaptation and what. Dec 28, 2018 - John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan shine in a Laurel & Hardy biopic. A Robin Hood parody that they plan to shoot at the end of their run of.

SUMMARYBUY TICKETS

Laurel and Hardy, the world’s most famous comedy duo, attempt to reignite their film careers as they embark on what becomes their swan song – a grueling theatre tour of post-war Britain.

Director: Jon S. Baird
Writer: Jeff Pope
Stars: John C. Reilly, Steve Coogan, Shirley Henderson

Closed Captioning and Descriptive Narration Available

REVIEW

Not since Martin Scorsese followed up the mob mayhem of Casino with two hours of Buddhist asceticism in Kundun has a director made such a pronounced movie-to-movie gear shift as Jon S. Baird does with his gentle follow-up to his 2013 Irvine Welsh adaptation, Filth. Cocaine squalor gives way to Stan & Ollie, a wistful, heartfelt celebration of the friendship between comedy giants Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly), which contains plenty of cozy movie-biz nostalgia and some mishaps with hats. It’s a love song played in a minor key, and it leaves an unexpectedly lingering impression. It’s also suitable for grandmas, if you need an option.

Scripted by Philomena’s Jeff Pope (working closely from a book by Laurel and Hardy historian A.J. Marriot), the story charts the duo’s final years as they embark on a grueling tour of British theaters while trying to get a new Robin Hood picture off the ground. It’s 1953, and the world has long since moved on from their brand of slapstick to new talents like Abbot and Costello. The crowds are thin and their prospects look thinner. Imagine This Is Spinal Tap with extra pratfalls.

The two leads are terrific: Reilly defies a slightly iffy fat suit to give us an avuncular but creaky Hardy, bemused by his friend’s work ethic and obsessed with the finer things in life. Coogan, in particular, is a revelation as Laurel, dialing down the trademark head-scratching mannerisms and unpeeling layers of disappointment and melancholy as the funnyman grapples with their failing film project and past wounds. Both disappear entirely into their characters, nailing the pair’s comic routines in a way that quietly speaks to a thousand hours of practice.

Stan & Ollie sprinkles in some of the pair’s classic lines (“I’m never getting married again,” says Laurel. “I’m just going to find a woman I don’t like and buy her a house”), but it laudably doesn’t get bogged down in too much that’s familiar to a niche audience. There are also juicy supporting roles for Shirley Henderson and Midnight in Paris’s Nina Arianda as the comedians’ long-suffering wives, Lucille and Ida. The film may be called Stan & Ollie, but it’s never more alive than when the four of them are onscreen.

– PHIL DE SEMLYEN, Time Out New York

There are a lot of movies in theaters right now trying to grab your attention and dollars — everything from superhero spectacles and musical extravaganzas to awards darlings and wannabes. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the options at the multiplex (and, frankly, at home, too), and when something like, say, a late-career Laurel and Hardy biopic comes along, it’s easy to dismiss it, or at least put off for a while.

But I’m here to tell you not to sleep on “Stan & Ollie .” It is simply terrific — an understated but smartly told crowd pleaser about the legendary comedy duo undertaking one last act. It boasts wonderful production values, a sharp and surprisingly poignant script and brilliant performances from John C. Reilly, as Oliver Hardy, and Steve Coogan, as Stan Laurel.

Directed by Jon S. Baird (“Filth”) off a script from Jeff Pope (“Philomena”), “Stan & Ollie” focuses on Laurel and Hardy during a last-gasp music hall tour of the United Kingdom in 1953, 16 years after their prime. By then, most of the world assumed the two had long ago retired on the riches of their fame.

We get a brief glimpse of them at their peak while they’re working with producer-director Hal Roach (played by Danny Huston). They’re laughing about ex-wives and money and declaring that they’ll never get married again. Laurel says he’s just going to find a woman he doesn’t like and buy her a house. But there’s a sign of trouble to come. Laurel’s contract with Roach is up, and he’s taking a meeting at another studio, expecting (and hoping) that Hardy will come along.

The film comes back to this pivotal break throughout, as we learn more and more about that rift and the men’s lingering issues with each other. The seams of this showbiz-manufactured marriage start to show as the 1953 performance tour gets more and more trying. Still, the comic performers try to keep their spirits up, even when performing to a half-full, second-rate theater. (A lousy promoter has not done a good job of educating the public that they’re not retired.)

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Oliver And Hardy Movies

Eventually, they have to lower themselves to do a series of cheesy promos educating the public that yes, they really are Laurel and Hardy. The move ends up working. Abbott and Costello might have been the big screen comedy duo of the moment, but it turns out there was also an audience nostalgic for the oldsters.

There is more at stake than just egos. Laurel has been hard at work on a Robin Hood movie that he thinks could be their big comeback (a producer is supposed to come see their London show), while Hardy is trying to mask his declining health. “Stan & Ollie” packs a surprising emotional punch without ever delving into the sad-clown sentimentality that you might expect from a standard performer biopic.

Whatever is going on behind the scenes, these two seem to relish in delighting an audience, whether it’s just one person (like, say, a hotel clerk) or a room of thousands. They’ll even get their wives (Shirley Henderson plays Lucille Hardy and Nina Arianda is Ida Kitaeva Laurel) in on it to drum up a little publicity. Coogan and Reilly are at the top of their game, truly disappearing into the icons they’re playing.

Baird and his performers have fun integrating some well-worn comedy bits into the daily lives of Stan and Ollie, and fans will have fun spotting them throughout. Don’t worry if you’re only passingly familiar with the comedy team. Laurel and Hardy’s humor is timeless and it’s not an uphill battle to understand why they were the best, or to see their impact on the comedy of generations to come.

‘Stan & Ollie’

Three stars

out of four stars

Rated PG; language, smoking

1 hour, 37 minutes

Opens Friday