Movie Musing: "Stan & Ollie" (2018)

I don't know the actual history of Laurel & Hardy, but this feels true and resonant. In my opinion, if you're not doing a documentary, for a biopic where you are looking to create an effective story in 90 minutes or so, it's best to take just a piece of the story and find your arc and make that as meaningful as you can. This is a good example of the way this material should be done.

This is a story about the end of Laurel & Hardy's career (mid-1950s, long after their heyday in the 30s & 40s), when they're reuniting for a brief tour, with the hopes that it will help fund a future movie and garner the interest of a producer. That's poignant in itself, that they just kept trying, that the work was important enough to keep going. (The idea of the value of the work itself, despite the possibility of limited return, is on display throughout the movie as well. Nice subtext).

The movie falls through, but the tour goes on. We get to see their modest (yet appreciative) audiences, and we get a few peaks where they start to catch fire again briefly, and it's not presented as something miraculous, just a nice final farewell of sorts, a victory lap. I sincerely hope it really was that way, and not Hollywood-ized for 2019 viewers.

Of course, the movie's really about their relationship, why they broke up (it's not earthshattering -- Ollie wanted to work things out with Hal Roach, Stan thought he should press harder, or that they should leave him if he didn't give them what they deserved), and carrying on despite a history of hurt feelings, not seeing eye to eye on business, and misunderstandings. It's very sweet and affecting in a non-showy way, and both John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are very expert at inhabiting these roles. It doesn't hurt that they bear a great resemblance to the duo.

The movie's also expert about weaving some of their famous routines into the plot as they might have been presented on stage for audiences, and as little bits of business they do for fans and onlookers, as if to remind or introduce to contemporary viewers, here's what they're famous for. If you have any fondness for old-time comedy, you'll appreciate the nods here.

I also loved the presence of the wives, and the casting of Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson as the wives of Stan & Ollie. It adds another human facet to their story. They're sassy, jaded, funny, streetwise and protective of their husbands, and writer Jeff Pope has done them a solid by giving them good dialogue and characterizations to play with.