At the end of the day, none of us really have much
control over who is in our life. Sure, you have some control over who you date
or where you work. Most of the time though, it's all about who you happen to be
in a room with. I'm shaped by the family I was born into. I have most of my
friends because they came along with my other friends initially. The schools I
went to and where I was born determine so much. Had any of a million things
broken differently, the makeup of the company I keep could be completely
different. Regardless of this, I am defined by the people I know. I'm Jo's son
or Michael's friend. People I've worked with may think that John and I are best
friends even though we rarely see each other outside of work. Some of these
connections are more reflective of the truth than others. That must be
especially strange for performers. Often, the people an actor is most
associated with really aren't their closest friends. I may like to think that
George Clooney is always hanging out with the other Ocean's Eleven guys,
but it's more likely that he's hanging out with Richard Kind (voice of Bing
Bong in Inside Out).
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are dubbed BFFs by the public, but I don't think they
are planning on getting adjoining rooms at the retirement home. Even if Jeff
Bridges and Jon Goodman aren't drinking White Russians together, they are
linked together forever in a way that only they really understand. Yeah, the
Beatles broke up acrimoniously, but as far as I'm concerned, they're always
like they were in A Hard Day's Night.
Laurel and Hardy were two performers who happened to
work together after they were paired by a producer one day. That's their grand
origin story. They weren't childhood friends or guys who came up in the same
troupe. They were a screen test that worked. But this led to international fame
as a duo and a partnership that lasted decades. Stan & Ollie is a
splendid study of that relationship in the latter days of their careers that
plays on the difference between what the public saw and how it actually was
between them.
In 1953, years after their heyday, Stan Laurel
(Steve Coogan) and Olliver Hardey (John C. Reilly) don't have a lot to show for
their fame. Due to bad luck, poor business decisions, and self-sabotage, they
lack the financial security of contemporaries like Charlie Chaplin and Buster
Keaton, so they go on a theater tour of the United Kingdom, hoping to build
enough interest to get their next movie made (a comic take on Robin Hood). This
doesn't start off so easily. Most of the public think they retired years ago.
Hardy's health is failing him. And Laurel is hiding the fact that he's having
trouble getting the financing for their next movie. On paper though, the
theater tour becomes a resurgence for their career. After some awful early
shows, the pair start selling out shows all around the country, but this only
intensifies the poor health, lies, and old jealousies they began with.
Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are pretty excellent
in the film. Coogan plays Stan Laurel without any of the vanity he has in TheTrip
movies. Laurel is proud but desperate. He's always working and writing even if
the next job isn't there. In his mind, everyone is looking for him to put on a
show at all times. He's not obnoxious about it. He just doesn't know what else
to do. He's the guy who cracks a joke as soon as there's any kind of lull in
the conversation. By the time we catch up with him in the movie, he's accepted
that he's never going to have the carrer of Charlie Chaplin, but he knows that
he was every bit as good a performer. It bothers him in a quiet way, like a
very small pebble stuck in his shoe. Reilly finishes off a hell of a few months
that saw him lead four very different movies about partnerships (The Sisters Brothers, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Holmes
& Watson, Stan & Ollie). I'll be honest, I thought the fat
suit and makeup would be too distracting to appreciate the performance, but by
the end, I wasn't even thinking about it (Where the hell is that Oscar
nomination?). His Oliver Hardy is a bit less obvious than Coogan's Laurel.
Hardy was never as focused on the work as Laurel, but he loves it just the
same. My favorite part of the movie was the interplay between Coogan and
Reilly. There's a real sense of history between the two men. They have a common
shorthand. They bicker, but they don't really fight much. They know it's not
worth the effort. There's a lot they don't say which explains even more about
their relationship. I love the way they are always planning their next movie,
even when one or the other knows it's not going to happen. Something about that
really hit me hard. They don't want to let go of the partnership, even if it
might be the best thing for them both.
The stealth MVPs of the movie are Laurel and Hardy's
wives played by Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson respectively. While Stan and
Ollie have a business friendship, Ida (Arianda) and Lucille (Henderson) do not.
There's an annoyance they have with each other than can only come from years of
being on press tours and receptions together. Arianda plays Ida big in a very
entertaining way. Henderson gets most of her best moments rolling her eyes at
something Arianda does. Both women are very protective of their husbands. While
Stan and Ollie rarely air their grievances with the each other during the
movie, it's clear that the wives have each heard about every slight, betrayal,
or deception for years back at home. You get a decent sense of their
characters, but their function in the movie is mainly to support their husbands.
I should also shout out Rufus Jones, who really embraces his role as Laurel
& Hardy's transparently sleazy manager. He's a benign force in the movie,
but he sure is easy to hate.
I like my biopics small. I'd rather really focus on
a moment in someone's like than try to cover the whole thing. So, I much
preferred Stan & Ollie over something like Bohemian Rhapsody
for that reason (otherwise, they are very different movies that don't
need to be compared). That said, Stan & Ollie is a little thin at
times. There's plot only as a way to examine a new facet of that partnership.
It's not a very subtle movie. It would rather repeat the same point several
times than risk anyone in the audience missing it. I really liked it though.
There's a bittersweet joy to the movie that hit me had.
One Last Thought: I wish I knew more about Laurel & Hardy's work. I
know the short with the piano falling down the stairs, which gets called out in
this movie, and that's about it. I suspect there were more nods to old bits of
theirs sprinkled in the movie that I missed. The filmmakers clearly have a love
of Laurel & Hardy's work which comes through in the movie.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment