Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.
Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. After all their efforts between that and this being decent to brilliant, their first full length feature 'Pardon Us' came up somewhat short, for me it was their weakest effort for quite some time up to this point and almost all their feature films that came after fared much better.
'Pardon Us' weakest points were the story and the pacing. The story is barely existent and feels cobbled together, like a series of sketches or a couple of shorts in one feature film which gave a disjointed feel. Although 'Pardon Us' was short, the content was not enough to sustain the length and it did feel more like a very padded short film rather than a feature film. There is a fair bit of padding and some of it comes over as over-stretched.
Most of the comedy material is fine, apart from some repetition here and there. Some of the editing is a touch on the sloppy side.
It is a nicely shot feature though and it is competently directed. There are a lot of amusing moments and the best parts are hilarious if not quite classic. The supporting cast do solidly enough.
Laurel and Hardy, as they rightly should be, are the stars. They show impeccable comic timing, especially Laurel though it was always great when their style had fully settled and their output evolved Hardy had more to do and able to show off his equal amount of talent more. Together, one can totally understand why they were such a legendary partnership. It was fully formed by this point and felt like a proper partnership, when before 'Two Tars' you mostly had them not having enough screen time together and Hardy having little to do. Not so on either count here.
On the whole, disappointing but worthwhile enough. 6/10 Bethany Cox
Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. After all their efforts between that and this being decent to brilliant, their first full length feature 'Pardon Us' came up somewhat short, for me it was their weakest effort for quite some time up to this point and almost all their feature films that came after fared much better.
'Pardon Us' weakest points were the story and the pacing. The story is barely existent and feels cobbled together, like a series of sketches or a couple of shorts in one feature film which gave a disjointed feel. Although 'Pardon Us' was short, the content was not enough to sustain the length and it did feel more like a very padded short film rather than a feature film. There is a fair bit of padding and some of it comes over as over-stretched.
Most of the comedy material is fine, apart from some repetition here and there. Some of the editing is a touch on the sloppy side.
It is a nicely shot feature though and it is competently directed. There are a lot of amusing moments and the best parts are hilarious if not quite classic. The supporting cast do solidly enough.
Laurel and Hardy, as they rightly should be, are the stars. They show impeccable comic timing, especially Laurel though it was always great when their style had fully settled and their output evolved Hardy had more to do and able to show off his equal amount of talent more. Together, one can totally understand why they were such a legendary partnership. It was fully formed by this point and felt like a proper partnership, when before 'Two Tars' you mostly had them not having enough screen time together and Hardy having little to do. Not so on either count here.
On the whole, disappointing but worthwhile enough. 6/10 Bethany Cox