Steve Coogan did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a BAFTA, and John C. Reilly did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy respectively in Stan & Ollie.
Stan & Ollie is a delightful film following the later years of the comedy duo as they embark on a European tour.
As a longtime fan of Laurel & Hardy, I'll admit I had a keen interest in seeing an eventual film to be made about the duo. Although I was well aware that there wasn't anything too "dramatic" within their lives, there was some potential within their later years of falling into semi-obscurity to only still found a resounding love of the public. In turn I'll admit I did try to imagine a dream casting for the pair, Stan was not one I could foresee easily but I never had anyone else in mind other than John C. Reilly in the role of Ollie. So naturally I was overjoyed to hear the frankly perfect casting choice come to fruition. I'll fully admit though I was less impressed initially at hearing Steve Coogan casting as Stan, feeling originally that it was a lazy choice merely based upon Stan & Ollie's director Jon S. Baird's previous collaboration with Coogan,
Philomena. I'll admit I still wasn't quite convinced after seeing the trailer for the film, but things changed during the opening minutes of the film, where we see the pair in the prime, on the set of
Way Out West, as they go through their personal lives and the slight tension between them, particularly Stan, and producer Hal Roach. Although the pair of Reilly and Coogan made two brief cameos on the awards trail, they were overlooked, meanwhile one performance also as a real person, also based around the imitation of a real person, has been reaping all of the awards glory. Well Coogan and Reilly's embodiment of these comedy legends frankly makes that awards winning performance look like a rank amateur.
Well in this opening scene the first thing that happened was that Reilly lives up to the promise of his casting quite immediately. He has a bit of help with some makeup, that he actually wears far better than most actors, as it seems so naturally part of his face, where he always did resemble Ollie to a certain degree. Well here he just simply becomes Ollie. Yes, yes one can always make this claim but honestly I just forgot I was watching Reilly here almost immediately. This is as he captures every aspect of Ollie so naturally and with such ease. This is with his so very specific voice of that slightly high pitched timbre yet with that sort of hidden deeply southern gentlemen bravado within it. It is such a specific that Ollie had that Reilly realizes not just as this surface imitation, but the fully textured voice of a person. It is so precise in just how accurate it is, yet so effortless in this approach. You just seem to meet the man, as even the way he greets his future wife the script girl Lucille (Shirley Henderson), with his oh so light and charming delivery of a "a sweet for my sweet" as he hands her a donut, I could only say "that's Oliver Hardy!". His physicality even in the role is simply of Hardy, which is a very specific, that frankly most other *ahem* husky comedians have tried to replicate. This being this lightness in movement and step despite heaviness of the personage. Reilly has this down pat in every little gesture of the hands, and even his walk is of this swim rather than a stomp. It is an amazing transformation that simply is Ollie.
Now how about Steve Coogan, who I had a my doubts about? Well he already has a bit of a tougher road in a certain sense in that he has no additional "help" so to speak in that his appearance isn't really altered in any great way. Coogan also is far less who I initially think of Stan Laurel at any point as his usual presence is typically far more cynical and harsh than would fit ole Stannie. Well, any doubts of mine for Coogan were dashed just as my hopes for Reilly were realized. Coogan too becomes Stan, which is particularly outstanding as it becomes almost impossible to describe exactly how. Coogan just tweaks himself in such a slight way to find the specific mannerisms of Stan, that it is absolutely fascinating. There is an even greater aspect of this that I will get to in a moment, but just every minor physical gesture too Coogan finds is just as Stan was. His voice even just is Stan's again, and again it is amazing. In that his accent just finds that certain lightness that evokes Stan's very airy English accent. Again though it is that physicality that is so specific to the once silent comedian that is so essential to portraying him, that again Coogan masters. This is as his walk and demeanor is just of that almost scarecrow esque manner, and a purposeful broad manner of his movements. It again just simply is the man in Coogan's hands, and like Reilly it is stunning how authentic it all feels. It never feels like an act as soon as this scene begins and both just are our Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy for the duration of the film.
Of course that is just step one in a sense, as both actors even manage to bring slight variations in this between their first scenes, and few flashbacks, against the older versions of the actors, where both, particularly Reilly, convey the wear of the years on the men. Not to some extreme degree, but with the right sense that reflects the age of the men properly as they embark on the tour. Of course the embodiment doesn't end there as the men are not the men as they were as the characters of Stan & Ollie. Stan being obviously much smarter, and also more introverted than the character of Stannie, against Ollie who was a whole lot less grumpy in reality, and technically was perhaps not leader of the two, as was the case in the films. The team of Reilly and Coogan, are also brilliant in creating the distinctions of the characters between the real people against the film versions of themselves. Reilly again masters this with the slight, though oh so hilarious, intensity found in the character of Ollie right down to the flustered breaking the fourth wall stare. That moment, where we see a fantastical creation of a never made film of Robin Good, with Coogan and Reilly, I'll be honest you could have told me it was lost real footage, as Reilly's moment as pure film Ollie, is absolute perfection of the recreation of a screen presence. The same is true for Coogan, who also masters that slightly changed manner of delivery of that of the simpleton with that sort lip smacking method of the dumb man slowly finding his words.
Now the film has the two specifically recreate the style of the performers in a several different scenes. This could have easily become tiresome if the two were not on point, and not believable as the duo. I'll admit I might have been okay with the understudy version of them, but I have to admit, as a giant fan of the two, Coogan and Reilly become the real deal. They have every bit of the physical comedy down pat, with that exact comedic timing in between the two that made them legends of the form. Also unlike some recreations from 2018, these two boys do their own singing, except for one instance where even the real Stan Laurel did not do his own singing. Their version of the "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" is something I was quite looking forward to I'll admit since one of the reasons I knew Reilly would be great for the role is his magnificent singing voice. Thankfully we were granted Reilly singing again and once again it is wonderful to hear him belt out a tune. Although with the eloquence of Ollie, while Coogan offers some fine support, just as Stan did, the two are again a delight, though I will leave the note that we NEED Reilly to be put into a proper musical, that man's musical talents are underused, however I digress. Each recreation though carries that some splendid wonder as it does feel like a cheap imitation but a proper realization of the duo's comedic greatness. They do both go a bit further though as there are moments that are not one for one, and Coogan and Reilly still find the timing, and the spirit of the men. They are absolutely and consistently entertaining to the point I frankly want the two just simply fully Laurel & Hardy feature, they're that good.
Of course as much as this film is a nice trip down cinematic legacy lane the film does have some dramatic elements. I actually love this aspect of the film that it focuses upon, it doesn't treat it as a trite element. Now mind you there was not truly great tragedy about the men, yet what they do include here is a whole lot more pointed than that far more awarded biopic puff piece. This is in the way that the two men were very different in personality and perspective. Ollie being just a loving generous man, of perhaps too great of appetites but not in a way that alienated others. Reilly brings this to life with such immense charm but with the right balance as he conveys the sense of darkness only within the frustrations that naturally come from his life, and the results of his weight. Reilly finds the right balance in the interpersonal personality of the man being so warm and endearing, that is his basic setting. I love one moment where we see his frustration at losing money on one of his bets as he tosses away a paper in anger, before see a group of kids watching him. Reilly's switch to a oh so pleasant little wave of his tie with big bright smile. Reilly doesn't play this as a jump into a facade, but rather the way of the man falling upon really his inherent nature. This is opposed to Coogan as Stan who shows that he certainly has a certain charm, but this is within a certain intense driven manner. Coogan finds really the right incisiveness of the man fitting to a man with a fixed artistic vision. There is the right passion in it, that is properly internalized by Coogan's work that shows it as something that creates a frigid quality at times though as side effect of that need to bring his ideas to the world.
The two then develop this very specific chemistry between the two. I love Coogan and Reilly together as Stan and Ollie, being the people they were off stage. The two find a low key loving quality that is given the right understated quality to the point you could forget about it. The years of working and really being together just are exuded in every understanding interaction. They in the same though realize the right tension, of course in the end the type of tension that can exist in any great friendship, with Reilly finding that passive attitude in Ollie that contrasts against the intensity Coogan brings with Stan. We finds something similar when we see the two with their wives, Ollie with the openly affectionate Lucille, and Stan with the rather direct Ida (Nina Arianda). Both women firmly love each men, just the two go about it with very different personalities. Again Reilly and Coogan are great in realizing these separate relationships. This with Reilly having such a sweet chemistry with Henderson in this nearly uncompromising care the two share that is so convincing and wonderful. Meanwhile with Stan, Coogan and Arianda show a newer relationship, and again fitting to his personality, a rawer more intense infatuation between the two. Both though just create a vivid understanding of each relationship and just show that little more of each man. Now the major conflict then comes in their personalities clashing, which again is not a dramatic break up but a fight that really a proper friends will have at one time or another. This coming just from earned pent up frustrations of the years that Reilly and Coogan bring such an honesty to. Their fight scene is absolutely fantastic as they each play it as these earned anger of old wounds. Stan for Ollie having worked with another partner in an undermining move against Stan by Hal Roach, and Ollie against Stan for Stan always seeming more occupied with their legacy as performers than their friendship. Their fight simply feels real as the two call upon the personalities with such a sadness evoked in Reilly in his expression of the heartbreak in the colder Stan, against the anger that Coogan brings out of a man feeling burdened by the lack of ambition of his partner. I especially adore the heartbreaking little face of betrayal in Reilly as he turns around, after Stan throws bread at him at the end of their fight. Again though this is not earth shattering for them but rather more release. It does take a bit of recovery which again feels genuine. I especially adore the moment where Coogan plays Stan, playing the character of Stan, trying to build the bridge back between the two. Coogan effectively showing that he puts on a facade of the act, thought trying to use it to to be more outgoing in the moment. After Hardy falls ill though the two do come together again such a tender moment as they forget their differences and share their very real mutual love. Both in the moment again earn by just calling upon this sense of understanding even in their difference as each so quietly deliver their apologies so authentic to two life long friends. I can't praise these performances enough, because they did something I didn't think could be done. They brought back the great duo and did so with such loving detail. They capture it all in their timing, their specific mannerisms, their banter, their physical comedy, and even in that certain of joy performance you could always sense from the duo. Although this film isn't the
Amadeus, of comedians, it doesn't need to be, as the two express what was great about the duo as cinematic performers, well giving the chance to meet them as people. Coogan and Reilly both did the legends proud and there's no more I could ask for.
