But it took a few films for me to discover ones that I would eventually really enjoy instead of appreciate.
So with seeing enough Laurel & Hardy and being a natural of the fan of history, I was pretty excited to see what would come of this biographical drama.
Well, it already had me smiling as the first scene shows the filming of my favourite Laurel & Hardy moment I've seen from their films. So I was certainly felt I was in safe hands.
After that, the story moves along nicely, the pacing is very gentle and the choice of story at this particular point in Laurel & Hardy's lives had me intrigued into the reasoning of this.
While I wasn't really blown away by much on screen, it was all totally and utterly pleasant viewing. Then I think the high point for me was the emotional and teary ending, which certainly moved me and enhanced everything else I had just seen beforehand.
One big aspect that needs to work is the performances of the two titular characters. John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan both did a great job individually as well as a pair. You instantly get a vibe of what you expect on how they work together and how they approach their work. But it was interesting to see how their characters behave off-screen and behind the scenes. Showing I think really helped for that memorable finale.
Despite Reilly and Coogan dominating the screen, there was a good amount of time for some of the supporting cast to shine. Nina Arianda came out well in this and had enough scene-stealing moments that I feel will get noticed by more people then you might expect.
I also have to praise on the efforts of Shirley Henderson and Rufus Jones. It was also great to see Danny Huston be a part of this.
Everything from a production standpoint looked spot on. The period setting was great to look at and the variety of costumes looked stunningly made. It certainly made the lavish side of the early 1950's rather grand and easy on the eye.
No negatives to speak of. But I will say that outside of the leading performances and the pay-off, everything else was good rather than great in my opinion. The script did keep the story moving but was never exceptional, the way it was edited and structured was perfectly fine but never noticeably exceptional.
All of those comments are just me being picky. But this is really a good time. The performances are strong, it looks great and I was particularly happy that my favourite Laurel & Hardy moment were pretty much as bookends for the story which pleased me hugely.
Laurel & Hardy purists I feel will be pleased with how this came out, and this will also be a great introduction to people who are not aware of this iconic comedic duo.
Rating: 7/10
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