Coogan and John C Reilly to play Stan and Ollie

[MuteBanana]

Reminds me of Paul Whitehouse's bed ridden obese lad.

[biggytitbo]

New still released from the film today

[Maurice Yeatman]

5-star review in The Times. Although Kevin Maher has a tendency to overrate, the review does make me think my initial scepticism may have been premature.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/film-review-stan-ollie-at-the-london-film-festival-sjf29lpd2

The London Film Festival finished with a flourish thanks to this indecently good world premiere about the dying days of the iconic comedic double act Laurel and Hardy. Set in 1953, and almost entirely in the UK, during the pair's initially inglorious theatre tour (doing classic "bits" from their most popular movies to almost empty regional venues), the film charts the difficult and complex relationship between our two protagonists, stunningly captured by Steve Coogan (as Laurel) and John C Reilly (Hardy).

Actors playing actors is always risky, and yet here, thanks to impeccable make-up effects, laser sharp vocal impersonation and two profoundly empathetic characterisations, Coogan and Reilly don't just deliver impressions of their subjects, they incarnate them. (Their version of the dance routine from Way Out West, for instance, briefly delivered in black and white, is move for move, beat for beat, impossible to distinguish from the original.)

Written by Jeff Pope and directed by Jon S Baird, the film details the drudgery of the provincial tour circuit while simultaneously nudging our protagonists towards an inevitable meltdown via the layering of snipes and gripes that hint at lifelong tensions — Laurel was the ambitious one, Hardy the wastrel; Laurel was dropped by the studio, Hardy refused to leave his contract, etc.

The duo are joined by "the wives" midway through the movie and, in one of the film's many unexpected pleasures, Pope and Baird invert the idea (perpetuated by the original movies) that the wives are two-dimensional harridans. Instead, Lucille Hardy (Shirley Henderson) and Ida Laurel (Nina Arianda) are multifaceted characters, restless, witty and whip-smart, who regularly steal scenes away from the two main players. As the theatre impresario Bernard Delfont (Rufus Jones) notes wryly, after one such comedy set-piece: "Two double acts for the price of one!"

As the film cruises towards its conclusion it reaches genuinely sublime heights. It won't be spoiling anything to say that it depicts two performers who have so blurred the lines between their true selves and their screen fictions that they would happily sacrifice everything (even their very lives) to sustain the integrity of their art. A scene in which Hardy, against doctor's orders (he's had a heart attack) insists on performing a delicate dance skit is impossibly heroic. While a simple wide shot of the pair, sitting up in bed together, and holding hands in silence, is just devastating.
Stan & Ollie is released in the UK on Jan 11

[idunnosomename]

I think this might be a bit of alright, calm down lads

New still released from the film today

Lol

[Maurice Yeatman]

3 stars in The Guardian and 4 in the Telegraph and in the Independent. Generally positive.

[popcorn]

It's definitely going to be shite.

[Adlopa]

Has no one seen this then? I rather enjoyed it, in a lush BBC TV movie kind of way. I thought Steve Coogan put in a very impressive performance, too, even if a couple of his facial expressions reminded me of AP.

My favourite part was when Ollie collapses on the steps before going on stage to judge the beauty contest and the woman sitting behind me laughed like a loud drain, much to the annoyance of everyone else caught up in the drama of the moment. Not sure if that's in all versions, though.

[Delete Delete Delete]

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,69189.0.html

[DrGreggles]

Has no one seen this then?

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,69189.0.html

[DrGreggles]

"Coo! This room's got an echo!"

[Delete Delete Delete]

"Coo! This room's got an echo!"