Review of Stan & Ollie (2018) by Greatmartin — 18 Jan 2019

While there are a few good things about "Stan & Ollie" there are too many negatives to make it worthwhile seeing.

John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy and Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel were a top comedy duo in the 1930s and by 1950 were barely making a living. Both actors are excellent in their roles though, sometimes, Reilly's prosthetics go astray. Most people, under 50, probably won't be familiar with these comedians and their routines might provide puzzlement as to why they were so famous even to the older folks in today's audience.

As a film about two comedians, it is more of a drama than a comedy, telling the story of their lives in the 1950s doing a tour in England to almost empty theatres and hoping to make a movie that might never be made.

Shirley Henderson as Lucille Hardy has a very hard to hear, and understand, accent while Nina Arianda as Laurel's Russian born wife Ida seems to get the most, what there are of them, laughs in the film and the two women are more of a comic team than their husbands.

In the 1940s Abott and Costello were more popular while they, in turn, would soon be surpassed by Martin and Lewis.

"Stan & Ollie" has 3-4 laughs and near the end a few tears but all in all it does nothing for them putting the spotlight on the team and really doesn't entertain the audience.