As time goes along, we find that there is no shortage of stories, based on the lives of real people, which can be examined for our viewing pleasure. Sometimes, I wonder what it might be like for those who have passed on, in this life, to see movies being made about the people they knew and saw and experienced back in the day, so to speak. As it is often said, “There’s nothing like the real thing,” but if we need to consider an alternative choice, under the right guidelines and circumstances, any of us could probably be persuaded to accept what we have been delivered. Of course, it is not always good, but perhaps until you have had the real thing, assuming it could ever be an option, I suppose it must suffice.

On that note, “Stan & Ollie,” based on what was going on behind closed doors between Stan Laurel and Ollie Hardy, must be considered a difficult project to undertake, in my view. Director Jon S. Baird returned to feature film for the first time since 2013. Primarily, he has been working on television shows, including “Vinyl” and I’m Dying Up Here,” just to name a couple of examples. His previous feature film, “Filth,” received positive, critical acclaim, despite coming out on the low end at the box office. Capability is one thing, but execution is something else, entirely.

Jeff Pope, of television writing fame, has written for feature-length films before, but is far less known for those projects. Nevertheless, he penned the screenplay for “Stan & Ollie.” Rounding out this strong trio of British talent is film composer Rolfe Kent, who has lent his talents on many projects, most notably 2004’s “Sideways” and the television series “Dexter.”

Although there are some secondary roles in this film, the vast majority of “Stan & Ollie” is centered around portrayals of Stan Laurel, played by Steve Coogan (“The Trip to Spain”), and Ollie Hardy, played by John C. Reilly (“Kong: Skull Island”). Without any doubt, Coogan and Reilly perform their parts well, even though I have very little personal exposure to the original people they are playing as. Hopefully, this movie will inspire some to go back and relive the days of the Laurel and Hardy shows. I believe anyone who does will be astounded at how spot-on these individual performances are. The actual, slapstick-heavy routines should be compared, as well and might even make these respective performances stand out even further.

As for the film itself, for me, it was not as desirable, overall. There were some nifty ideas, such as: the opening shot being one continuous shot until the start of another stage show was set to begin AND segments in between touring locations, portraying stage-like developments between Stan and Ollie, as they made their routine travels from city to city and so on. I wondered if this was to emulate the plight for many comedians, which is the need to be funny in almost anything they say and do, especially when interacting with the fans and the public. Fame, as they say, is like a two-edged sword. I suppose the same could be said about infamy, as well. Consider the paradox of both forms, overlapping each other atop a very slippery slope. Somehow, most of us have little sympathy for celebrities, but how many of us can truly even empathize with their lifestyle?

Laurel and Hardy, regrettably, but expectedly, did not always get along. They were like two peas in a pod, only the pod was abnormally shaped. As I see things, depending on which character you happen to relate with the most, you will likely take his side over the other’s, even though both men had their understandable reasons for being at odds, from time to time. Their wives, Kitaeva Laurel (played by Nina Arianda, “Florence Foster Jenkins”) and Lucille Hardy (played by Shirley Henderson, “T2 Trainspotting”), seem to mirror their needs perfectly. For Stan, Kitaeva is a blunt, honest, yet carefully detail-oriented “manager” and with Ollie, Lucille is a warm, emotionally-receptive “caretaker.” Surely, living as a spouse to people such as these is not easy, but it seems that Laurel and Hardy found their ideal matches, albeit later in life.

One might expect “Stan & Ollie” to be an adequate comedy, but it is really more of a drama, in my estimation. Coogan and Reilly have both shown the ability to play in comedic OR dramatic roles, but striking the right balance in a film like this is very tricky. In the end, I think the moviemakers went too far in the direction of drama. This means that the movie feels out of balance, from my perspective.

In the beginning, I wondered if there would be enough “heart” in the film. It was lacking, at first, but began to fill its tray as the story progressed. As with each and every one of our lives, there are happy and sad moments. We all want our lives to end happily, but that is not always the case. Honestly, they probably fall, mostly, somewhere in between. I would say that “Stan & Ollie” ended bittersweet, but overall, I was left with a taste a tad more bitter and that was not quite what I was looking for.

Director: Jon S. Baird
Screenwriter: Jeff Pope
Composer: Rolfe Kent
Starring: Steve Coogan, John C. Reilly, Nina Arianda, Shirley Henderson, Danny Huston as Hal Roach and Rufus Jones as Bernard Delfina
Distributors: Sony Pictures Classics/ Entertainment One
Release: January 4th, 2019 (US)/ January 11th, 2019 (UK)