This is an advance review. Stan & Ollie opens in limited release December 28.
It’s hard to articulate just how successful and famous comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were in their heyday. Together, Laurel & Hardy starred in over 100 films, many of them box office smashes. Their cartoonish personae and impish schtick, with the rotund Hardy constantly at the receiving end of the sticklike Laurel’s oblivious gags, fit in practically any situation. They were master comedians working at the top of their game.
But all stars must fall. Jon S. Baird’s new biopic Stan & Ollie finds the two legends at the end of their careers, still as funny as ever but struggling to find an audience now that comedy has moved on, and acts like Abbott & Costello rule the entertainment world. It sounds melancholy, and sometimes it is, but Baird has nothing but warmth in his heart for these two comedy maestros. The film is as funny and charming a Hollywood biopic as you’re ever likely to find.
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It’s hard to articulate just how successful and famous comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were in their heyday. Together, Laurel & Hardy starred in over 100 films, many of them box office smashes. Their cartoonish personae and impish schtick, with the rotund Hardy constantly at the receiving end of the sticklike Laurel’s oblivious gags, fit in practically any situation. They were master comedians working at the top of their game.
But all stars must fall. Jon S. Baird’s new biopic Stan & Ollie finds the two legends at the end of their careers, still as funny as ever but struggling to find an audience now that comedy has moved on, and acts like Abbott & Costello rule the entertainment world. It sounds melancholy, and sometimes it is, but Baird has nothing but warmth in his heart for these two comedy maestros. The film is as funny and charming a Hollywood biopic as you’re ever likely to find.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...