Time to take a trip back to the days of black-and-white
cinema with a look at one of vaudeville’s most beloved acts: Laurel &
Hardy. Vaudeville comedy has had such a tremendous impact not just on comedy
but the cinematic medium as a whole that it is quite possible to understate
just how important this movement was for the art form. From Charlie Chaplin to
the Three Stooges to Abbott & Costello, this field of pantomime performance
set a bedrock for pretty much every comedic work that would follow. As such, creating
a biopic in tribute to one of these acts requires not only a willingness to
respect the greats but also an objective admission of why they are the greats
to begin with. And in all of the important ways, this manages to do just that.
