Stan & Ollie (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆

Stan & Ollie (2018) – J. S. Baird

Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, two persistently great actors, play Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy with note perfect impersonations (which I suppose we could have expected from Coogan, given his flair for mimicry in The Trip films). They disappear into the characters.  The film (based on real events) takes place long after the comedy duo’s screen successes, as they attempt to make a comeback in England, touring the country with recreations of their greatest skits.  Both expect to make a final film based on the Robin Hood legend, but it looks like it will fall through.  Indeed, there is an inevitable air of melancholy to the proceedings, as Ollie’s health is failing and audiences are initially small.  But again Coogan and Reilly are superb at their comic reincarnations here, surely eliciting nostalgia from many – and when the actresses playing Laurel and Hardy’s wives show up, an extra level of repartee is provided.  Despite these positives, unfortunately, director Jon S. Baird lays it all on too thick, with extra strings (so to speak) and the result feels overproduced and overly sentimental. There’s little to any edge here, even with the inevitable conflict between the heroes.  A missed opportunity but okay enough.