Stan And Ollie

A homage should, in my mind, be carried out with some affection and this cinematic homage to the wonderful  talents that were Laurel & Hardy has affection in bloody bucketfuls.
It's a truly sweet story which has made an absolutely lovely film.
Set in the 1950s when the duos' careers were on the wane, we follow the ever chirpy Oliver Hardy ( John C Reilly) and his more cynical and slightly more savvy sidekick Stan Laurel ( Steve Coogan) on their come down tour of Northern Britain's second rate theatres.
Plagued with ill Heath and the memory of a friendship testing contract problem, the men's relationship is challenged further by career worries and complicated by the arrival of their wives from the US.
Reilly and Coogan not only play the comics they become the comics and their reenactment of the most well loved of Laurel & Hardy set pieces have to be seen to be believed. They are just THAT good a modern day audience lapped them up with the gusto of their 1930 counterparts.
Having said all this, it is the chemistry between Reilly and Coogan that makes the film work so well. They capture a genuine and often poignant affection that was held between the two men and their scenes together, especially those after Hardy is taken ill have a resonance and power all of their own.
I never stopped crying for the entirety of the last third of the film.
Wisely, halfway through the story brings the comics' wives into play and we meet the wise cracking Lucille Hardy ( Shirley Henderson ) and straight talking Russian Ida Laurel ( Nina Arianda ) both fiercely protective of their husbands. Their spiky scenes together provide a spark that complements the platonic and brotherly love affair which is essentially the story of their husband's relationship together and which is one that is portrayed with so much respect and love.
10/10

A double act of their own Henderson and Arianda)