Stan & Ollie

Stan & Ollie is a 2018 biopic about the later years of the comedy duo Stan Laurel (played by Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (played by John C. Reilly).

“In 1937, while making Way Out West, Stan Laurel refuses to renew his contract with Hal Roach, as Laurel believes they are not being justly compensated for their global fame. Oliver Hardy remains tied to Roach on a different contract, with the studio pairing him with Harry Langdon—and an elephant—in the film Zenobia. They soon get back together, but Oliver's skipping a meeting with Fox results in them not being signed, leaving Laurel feeling embittered for years.” – Wikipedia.

In 1953, in an effort to get financing for a new film (their first in years) they travel together to Great Britain on a tour to raise interest in backing them. Although they find ‘the business’ more interested in snappy new acts like the Americans Abbott and Costello or the British Billy Wisdom, enthusiasm among the people starts to swell. In the end, however, the studio they are wooing bails on them.

In the meantime, the two erstwhile stars gamely struggle through appearances in less than stellar theaters, brooding resentments, a degree of poverty, and failing health. Stan has always been driven by his art, but Ollie has a more laid-back approach, seeing his career as being just one of the elements of his life. He has, nevertheless, deft comedy instincts, and Stan needs him as the perfect sounding board for his ideas. They have always been partners, but as the film progresses and their understanding grows, they become true friends.

Using recreations of their routines and some deft applications of their comedy to real life, the flavor of Laurel and Hardy as we know it is brilliantly recreated.  Steve Coogan and (especially) John C. Reilly, seem to disappear into their roles. The heart cracks when Stan and Ollie have a quarrel that threatens to break them apart forever, a quarrel that the people around them only take as another routine. I for one would like to see the parody of “Robin Hood” that they were trying to sell, and I wonder if material for it still existed or if they had imagined it for this film. It worked.

I waited until my brother John and I could see the film together. We have both been fans of Laurel and Hardy for years (John especially, perhaps, but me a close second), and I felt that the viewing would be a special occasion. It did not disappoint. The final scene of Oliver Hardy, regardless of having had a mild heart attack, carrying on gallantly and gracefully with the show despite his suffering, is an object lesson in life for us all.