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In India, they were known as “Jaadya Aani Radya” (“Stout and Worrywart”). The
Danes called them “Gøg og Gokke” (“Wacky and Pompous”). They were equally
beloved in Poland as “Flip and Flap” and in Germany as “Dick und Doof” (“Chubby
and Dumb”). For the Italians, they were “Cric e Croc.” There’s probably an
untranslatable idiom that had Sweden and Norway call them “Helan och Halvan”
(“The Whole and the Half”). Most other countries called them by some variation
of “The fat guy and the skinny guy.” But they were known and adored around the
world as much as in English speaking countries where Laurel and Hardy were
simply Stan and Ollie.
"Stan and Ollie" is an affectionate film about a couple of people who, by all
appearances, seem to deserve that affection, and that's not as easy to pull off
as you might think. It's easy to wind up making something too lightweight, or
insert too much external strife to create drama. This film rearranges things,
but never loses track of how a great deal of what made Laurel & Hardy work
on-screen is also what makes their real-life relationship compelling.
In 1937, Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) were one
of Hollywood's biggest draws, although their contracts with Hal Roach (Danny
Huston) kept them on a leash. By 1953, they were yesterday's news, although they
had plans for a comeback picture, a take on Robin Hood. To drum up interest,
they booked a tour of Great Britain, although promoter Bernard Delfont (Rufus
Jones) is only able to book them into small venues. Hopefully they'll be doing
better by the time their wives (Shirley Henderson & Nina Arianda) arrive in
London.
There have always been two Stan Laurels and two Oliver Hardys, and the makers of
this movie seem to love both versions equally, and base their entire approach to
the film on this. Stanley Laurel was a sharp comedy mind who planned their gags
meticulously and agitated for a better deal rather than a simpleton while Oliver
"Babe" Hardy doesn't have his onscreen persona's short temper, but their alter
egos fit them like gloves, and when they arrive at their first (rather small)
hotel, they enter doing a bit. It's a delightful comic moment that does a lot -
it lets Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly to do some Laurel & Hardy-style comedy
without simply recreating something from one of their films, it gives the
audience an idea of just how practiced these guys are, and the generosity of it
goes a long way to establishing the audience's fondness for the guys. They're
giving away a bit of what they do for a living, for an audience of one woman at
the front desk, when a lot of people who still think of themselves as big stars
would instead be demanding.
There's love in that attitude, and not just the usual "the show must go on" type
where entertainers are providing a needed escape for themselves or the audience.
The connection with the audience is genuine, but it's the connection with each
other that's interesting; though they'll tell people that they're little more
than work friends, thrown together by accident as Roach mixed and matched actors
he had under contract until he found something that worked, the idea of doing
this thing with someone else is painful to the point of betrayal, and the chance
to perform together again hard to resist. These two love each other and their
other selves, and the film is at its most joyously earnest when it plays as that
sort of love story.
A love story doesn't necessarily mean a romance, though that's the usual
assumption, which is why it's a genuine delight when the wives show up and make
themselves a big part of the film's latter half. The script by Jeff Pope has a
lot of references to ex-wives and how Hollywood marriages are doomed in the
opening segment, which seems to be setting up the idea that they're each other's
true other half, but instead Lucille Hardy and Ida Laurel appear and they're
just what their husbands need, and no mere secondary relationships. Whether
bantering among themselves or serving as voices of reason and support for their
husbands, they're vital and entertaining, with Shirley Henderson and Nina
Arianda giving funny, well-rounded performances good enough that you could get a
pretty good movie about the team's career as seen from their perspective.
Instead, the film gives Coogan and Reilly a showcase, and both are kind of
terrific. Reilly gets covered in more prosthetic makeup, but underneath, he's
got the same sort of everyman geniality that's often been his stock in trade,
although what rounds the performance into something that seems more than an
imitation is that one can see the frustration and pride that rubs up against his
desire to get along, even before it seems important, but that's off-stage;
on-stage, it's clear that his character's annoyance with his partner is part of
the gag as opposed to something coming up from within him. Coogan's Stanley
clearly loves being a part of Laurel & Hardy a bit more that Oliver, and Coogan
does a great job when asked to put his heart on his sleeve. He generally
impresses in making Stanley meticulous without being fussy, and the pair of them
are extremely well-matched, whether executing comedy with impressive precision
or showing a level of off-stage affection they sometimes have a hard time
acknowledging.
The filmmakers pour a great deal of love into this movie, enough for it to
overflow, and that seems entirely appropriate; for all Laurel & Hardy built a
career on playing up their annoyance, there's love in every direction here,
whether for each other, what they created, the women in their lives, and their
audience, and it clearly goes in both directions. It's earnest and sincere
enough that it's difficult to not ultimately love the movie itself, even if one
is initially inclined to just see it as quite good.
Loyal fans of the duo will enjoy casual references to favorite moments, like a
bit with a steamer trunk at a subway station that recalls the short film The
Music Box (the one in which Stan and Ollie haul a piano up a steep flight of
stairs). It’s a funny bit even if you don’t get the reference, which indicates
that Stan and Ollie may have a hope of winning larger audiences than those who
remember the fat guy and the skinny guy firsthand.
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