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★★★☆☆
18 December 2018
A movie review of STAN & OLLIE. |
“That’s all in the past, and that’s where it should stay,” Laurel (Steve Coogan)
If you are the sort of person who enjoys superstars’ fame and influence dwindling, why do you think that is? For the rest of us, there is sadness for those who knew greatness and lost it. One is not talking about a fall due to disgraceful behaviour. One is referring to the difficulty of maintaining pre-eminence. STAN & OLLIE concerns the swansong of blockbuster entertainment careers. While the tone is largely melancholic, it is complimented by spurts of sharp banter.
If you are the sort of person who enjoys superstars’ fame and influence dwindling, why do you think that is? For the rest of us, there is sadness for those who knew greatness and lost it. One is not talking about a fall due to disgraceful behaviour. One is referring to the difficulty of maintaining pre-eminence. STAN & OLLIE concerns the swansong of blockbuster entertainment careers. While the tone is largely melancholic, it is complimented by spurts of sharp banter.
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The summer of 1937 had Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) as Tinseltown’s top comedy stars. Opening on a long sequence following the leads around a Californian movie set, we get an efficient glimpse into their personalities. Over the course of the runtime, ask yourself whose side you take. Stan is driven and ambitious. Ollie is a gentle people-pleaser. Stan feels short-changed by the studio head, while the latter is just grateful. The old school contract system was not lucrative compared to the multi-million paydays of modern Hollywood. Labour should equal reward, remuneration fairly meted out, and not merely residing with those on the board, right?
The film portrays Ollie as continually holding Stan back. Not as dour as Laurence Olivier’s THE ENTERTAINER (1960) or Sylvain Chomet’s THE ILLUSIONIST (2010), STAN & OLLIE shows the lengths taken to resurrect careers. The duo falls out and the story jumps 16 years to 1953 Newcastle, England. They are on the theatre circuit performing live their brand of humour. The tour is a dispiriting step down from previous giddy heights. “To be honest, I thought you’d retired,” opines a receptionist, inadvertently sticking the knife in. The drudge is for the planned payoff of a new movie deal. Stan is attempting to put together a Robin Hood picture. We all suspect that is wishful thinking, increasing the pain of their fall.
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John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are eminently watchable. The former delivering his best performance to date this year with THE SISTERS BROTHERS. However, the awful make up on John C. Reilly is distracting. Coogan and Reilly, and the script, show Stan and Ollie to still have wit. Unresolved bitterness bubbles under the surface of their interaction. The viewer waits for the bile to be articulated out loud. Watching Stan and Ollie perform their dated shtick to guffawing audiences heightens the unfunniness. A laughter track on a leaden sitcom makes the experience worse.
Bar the occasional flourish, STAN & OLLIE feels too unassuming for cinema. However, it is a cautionary tale about the vagaries of the entertainment industries.
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