With their golden era long behind them, comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy embark on a variety hall tour of Britain and Ireland. Despite the pressures of a hectic schedule, and with the support of their wives Lucille and Ida – a formidable double act in their own right – the pair's love of performing, as well as for each other, endures as they secure their place in the hearts of their adoring public
This movie tells a simple story beautifully about two complex men at the end of their careers.
I think I disagree with some people in believing that Stan & Ollie benefits from narrowing the plot. Showing their career together at their pear would show what they were as a team and what they did together, but this angle illustrates who they are. It sweats the details. Coogan and Reilly are very convincing in their roles.
They still have ambitions that fuel an attempt at a comeback, but their ambition is clouded by the knowledge that they are past their prime. They enjoy the nostalgia and leftover love from their fans even while they try to rise above it. The movie is able to end on a high note even though they cannot achieve all of their goals.
Perhaps what I like the most about this movie is the treatment of the stars' wives. As the agent character states, the two wives are also a sort of double act. On the surface they don't seem to like each other a lot, but we see moments of respect and fun between them, and they obviously both love their famous husbands very much. As I said above, Coogan and Reilly do a great job in this movie, but it would have been a lesser film without these two supporting characters.
As a kid, i always shied away from the sort of "slapstick" humour of Laurel and Hardy, so I knew little about them. This little retrospective proved to be an enjoyable traipse throughout their last few professional years, down on their luck, working for a somewhat unscrupulous Bernard (later Lord) Delfont from small, provincial, music halls in Britain. John C. Reilly does an excellent job conveying the frailties of Oliver Hardy. Steve Coogan is less convincing - he seems to resort more to mimicry. All-in-all, though - quite an charming and gently told story with quite a few laughs and the odd tear-jerking moment, too.
