Stan & Ollie, the exceptional UK box office smash-hit tells the untold story of the world’s greatest comedy double act. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly deliver excellent performances as the legendary Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

Stan & Ollie is a portrait of one of the most iconic of creative partnerships to ever grace the silver screen. The pair appeared together many, many times throughout their careers and their lives were so closely intertwined that they preferred to not act with anyone else. And Ollie never really performed again after his partner’s death.

Steve Coogan and John C Reilly really inhabit their characters, without resorting to mimicry their finely honed performances will almost have viewers questioning if they’re watching the real Stan and Ollie or not. Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson provide excellent support as Stan and Ollie’s wives. And in fact they have more comic lines and scenes than the leads.

Directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Jeff Pope, Stan & Ollie is a gentle comedy that rather than being a straight biopic is actually more of a feature length examination of a really genuine, close friendship between Stan and Ollie. It’s not going to give fans a great deal of insight into the lives of the two funny men and it doesn’t create drama for the sake of it as many films try to – and it’s all the richer for it concentrating on the truth rather than sensationalised make believe. The drama comes from the real life events of a pair that has initially hit the big time, fallen on leaner times, but then put together a comeback tour that gradually builds in popularity. A comeback tour that was in fact across the UK… I did not know that Stan Laurel was actually British.

The film is well written, tightly directed and as mentioned delightfully acted. I don’t consider myself a fan of Laurel and Hardy, or at least I didn’t before I watched this film. It’s a movie that’s well worth your time and will give you an understanding of the lives of these men who were at the forefront of comedy in the early days of TV and how improving technologies in this area affected their lives as onstage performers. You can now watch Stan and Ollie in high definition on Blu-ray, something that I’m sure that they would be very proud, half a decade after both men sadly died.

Stan & Ollie is available on Digital Download on Monday 6th May and Blu-ray & DVD from 3rd June 2019

Product Information:

· DVD / BD Release Date: Monday 3rd June

· EST Release Date: Monday 6th May

· Cert: PG

· Running time: 93 minutes

iTunes, DVD & Blu-ray Special Features:

· Making Of

· Becoming Stan & Ollie

· A Perfect Partnership

· Visual Effects

· Deleted Scenes

World Premiere – Red carpet
Director's Commentary with Jon S Baird - iTunes exclusive

Author : Kevin Stanley