I'm susprised they never considered using some of the scripts Stan Laurel wrote after Oliver Hardy passed away.

The Actors who played Laurel and Hardy do a phenomenal job at recreating there characters. It's just a shame that they were placed with a poorly written script in terms of story.

You can't remake something that was once in a lifetime...but you can preserve their films and shorts for future generations....And the man who did Oliver Hardy, my goodness he nailed the voice!!!!

"Hey, is the framerate off?" "Nah man, this is Africa."

Stan & Ollie with Coogan and O’Reilly was a great movie and both actors did a fantastic job recreating Laurel & Hardy’s mannerisms.

I just love how in every single review, there's always something positive in his tone. It just makes the reviews that more endearing and a breath of fresh air to watch.

It's kind of weird how this and The Three Stooges ended up trying to reinvigorate their respective brands with movies that as sloppy tributes, but with weird plots, and impersonations that almost get it right.

I feel dirty inside that this was the way I was actually introduced to Laurel & Hardy and really loved this film as a kid and went on to watch the classics, without it I might have never discovered them

Those impersonations were absolutely uncanny. Fair play.

Stan's accent is hard to do, He was from Ulverston which was Lancashire at the time, Cumbria now. The accent is half way between the 2. Then add 50 or so years in the US. Coogan had a head start being from Lancs. I'm from Preston, my grandad moved to the States in the 60's he had a very similar accent. The humour is mostly Stan's as well something else he brought from Lancashire. Someone from the US would struggle to replicate it unless they had lived here for a while.

Today I learned that Balky and Chuck from Ernest made a Laurel and Hardy movie in South Africa in 1999. The fever dream that is 2020 continues...

These two guys can never ever be "rebooted" forget about it.....

So, is this film the reason why the characters of Laurel & Hardy, could be seen around Universal Studios back in the 90's? No joke, that's a childhood memory, there are pictures of my brother and I together with some of the fictional characters that would be walking around the park - like Alvin from Alvin And The Chipmunks, Laurel & Hardy were either handing out, or just messing around with a cart of pumpkins, and I remember two women as the Xena warrior Princess and some other chick (I got my picture taken with them, besides Alvin). Man, the 90's Universal Studios was the best time. Don't get me wrong, I like Harry Potter, but FUCK ALL THAT SHIT they added to Universal Studios - bring me back "Back To The Future: The Ride", "Terminator 2 3D", "E.T. The Ride" and a bunch of other stuff I may have been able to see or ride once or twice, but will never have a chance to again now :( Also The Mummy: The Ride, that was really awesome!

This honestly seems like a waste of two extraordinarily perfect performances. It does seem like it would have worked better set in the early 20th century though. Their anachronistic outfits make them seem more like fish out of water than like goofballs.

These two actors were FANTASTIC! Talk about nailing it.

I watched Perfect Strangers every week as a kid and loved Balki. I did not recognize Bronson Pinchot as Laurel until you pointed him out.

It looks like the two lead actors did a good job. In so many movies, it's the writing that falls short. We don't REALLY care if the CGI is less than great, if the writing and performances are great. These clips made me want to see the movie.

Laurel and Harry are my favourite tv stars of all time, Recreating anything is just never the same as the original, Seeing as we will never get to see the originals anymore I would have liked to have seen a series of these movies in the 80's.

The two actors playing Laurel and Hardy were very good in this video. But no one can replace the real Laurel and Hardy.

Gailard Sartain does a spot on Georgia accent, difficult for non Southerners to ace it but he got Ollie's accent perfectly

I never know why they try to reboot old franchises or series, but like keep the characters locked in the time period they are in but then thrown in modern times. Like laurel and hardy were from the 20s to the 50s, yet you want to do a reboot where you keep everything about them, even their outfits, but put them in modern times. They would make more sense if they made them as dumb time travel movies, where they come and interact with future nonsense. Or they would make more sense if they rebooted it, yet kept the time period of the movie and characters the same (like setting is in the 30s and characters are too). It just comes off as really dumb and flops nearly every time

I recently discovered your channel and I am really enjoying your content. In a sea of flashy, loud, obnoxiously produced videos, it is so refreshing to take in your well-thought-out, tastefully produced videos. They clearly come from the heart. This is always the best path forward: talk / write / make art about things you have passion for. Also, I love learning new things and your channel is great for shining a light into things I didn't realize I wanted to know more about!

Watch Stan and Ollie. Reilly and Coogan absolutely nail the performances along with the chemistry and love the two had for each other.

Very great insight, my friend! On a personal note, I met Bronson in 16, and he is such a true gentleman of a celebrity. His partner in crime, Mark Linn Baker was just as gracious and they were so kind to me and very patient with my questions about Perfect Strangers (which I am a massive fan of) but the good news is that they are bigger fans of the show :)

Thanks for this! I'm a lifelong L&H fan who didn't know about this film. Actually the taxi gag at the end did make me laugh out loud!

When I was a kid there was a full hour of L&H at 6:00 every Saturday morning. On school days my mom had to drag me out of bed at 7:00, but on Saturdays I was up at 5:45, fixing a bowl of cereal to munch on while I watched L&H. Laughter is a great way to star a day.

This was a bad idea from the start: There is only "one" Laurel and Hardy! That being said, I did enjoy the biopic "Stan and Ollie" that came out in 2018. I felt it was well cast.

I recently purchased the complete collection of Laurel and Hardy, including their foreign releases. They were absolutely brilliant and can’t wait to see their work in entirety.

This movie was not "all" that bad! It was a fun film all and all and it was good to see "they" were trying to revive the Laurel & Hardy characters for a new generation. The actors playing Stan & Ollie were not bad at all! It wasn't a very good script but I wish more movies with them as the Stan & Ollie characters would of been made.

I remember seeing this on VHS in the early 2000s and really enjoying it. It seemed to disappear after that though. I could never find the video anywhere again after that. I think the actors did a great job, and I think that making it more of a tribute or celebration of the original than trying to pass it off as the original characters played by different actors was a good idea. I still hold out hope that someone will make Stan's last scripts, either with a similar tribute Laurel And Hardy act or perhaps they could adapt them for a new double act. Stan doesn't get anywhere near the respect he deserves as a comedic genius. People just think of him as a performer, but they forget that he wrote and/or directed so many films too.

Ever see Chuck McCann do his Laurel and Hardy impersonations....simply amazing.

Now I want to see this film, if only to watch the leads and see if they maintained their impressions as well as in the clips. Their affection and respect come through their performances. I remember the cartoon from when I was young and the plot synopsis certainly sounds more like a Saturday morning cartoon than a 90-minute feature. They might as well have brought in Scooby and the gang to round out the cast.

I’ve never heard of this one. Thank you for another great video. This is becoming one of my favorite channels. Keep up the good work

The thing most attempted recreations of L&H get wrong is the incredible sense of timing they had in their gags. Part of this was Stan's extra work in editing the films and timing laughs in tryouts. The boys also mostly underplayed their parts, without the frenetic pace of most silent (and later sound) comics -- ideas occurred slowly to Stan. You could watch his face change as a thought percolated through his brain. Ollie's slow burn was his trademark, as well as breaking the fourth wall. This slow underplayed style made the eruption all the funnier when it came. Look at the way they would build up a gag, play with it, then make the payoff. Take the scene in "Towed in a Hole" where Ollie is painting the mast and Stan is trapped behind it belowdecks. You know what is going to happen, eventually, but the process of getting there is not rushed. And there is no tricky dialogue necessary. No complex plot, no jokes, no slapstick for the sake of slapstick. It's not enough to look like them; the trick is acting and thinking like them, and for directors and writers to understand that. Harmon certainly never did.

Speaking of Sgt Bilko, I'd love an Almost Cult Classic episode on the film! It's been one of my faves since I was a kid and was surprised it was a bomb. Always wondered if I was the only fan of it!

These are always such high quality videos, man. Thanks for keeping us all entertained during all this.

There are so many gags and mannerisms that seemed to be captured pretty well, but didn't have the same timing and delivery of our down on their luck duo. Keep it up!

You've got a new fan and a new subscriber for that matter. Keep on making these awesome docu-minis and brief looks at forgotten stuff. It's very entertaining.

Even though I was not aware about the original duo of Laurel and Hardy, I loved this movie as a kid. I want to thank you for reminding me of it, it surely brings up amazing memories :)

gailard sartain one of the most underrated entertainers of our time .

I think Bronson Pinchot was a seriously underrated actor. His parts in Beverly Hills Cop and especially True Romance are pretty brilliant. You should review another forgotten failure starring him and John Larroquet, Second Sight.

I remember wen this movie hit the cable movie channels. Yeah, it was a bad idea, but I give credit to Sartain and Pinchot for their performances. They did a great job at capturing Laurel and Hardy.

Joe, I'm enjoying your channel so much. Excellent video essays. Thank you for not drowning the material in crappy so-called music.

This channel is growing fast and with good reason. Awesome content!!

I'm not sure how you 'reboot' a deceased comedy duo. Isn't that just copying likenesses and material? Material I understand, but you can't have a 'new' Laurel and Hardy, it doesn't make any sense.

I remember this on VHS when I was little. I think I watched like the first 15 minutes with my family and my parents turned it off in disgust. I'd classify it at as a truly "Dumb" Dumb Comedy, as opposed to L&H's "Intelligent" Dumb Comedies. Looking at some of these clips, the actors seem capable and there could have been something to some of the joke premises . . . but this really suffers from Laurel's lack of direction, and let's face it: Stanley's comic direction made Laurel and Hardy great. Bronson's comic timing is off as he plays it like a TV sitcom, and this is due to poor timing. Consider the joke here when Hardy says "you're going to protect me" and Stanley immediately replies "but who's going to protect me?". The actual Stan Laurel would have put a well placed comedic pause in between those two lines so that Stan could look around with a puzzled look on his face as he slowly worked out the mathematics of the first statement, maybe he'd start as if to say something then stop, and then go back to thinking before coming to the second line of realization. Sartain is good but completely lacks Hardy's believable anger and frustration, which serves to heighten the situational comedy. Jim Varney and Stan Laurel had the natural comedic timing as actors for their characters . . . Pinchot attempts but misses, sometimes by a lot. Also, it is just weird (in a not funny way) to have Laurel and Hardy characters wandering around in clothes from the 20s/30s in the 1990s. It's like setting Hamlet in a 90s megacorporation where everyone is wearing business suits but Hamlet is walking around in Elizabethan clothing . . . actually that might be funny, but only because I've augmented the absurdity and put thought into it, unlike the 0 thought that went into L&Hs costume choice in this movie.

You are on fire lately, sir! Great work on this channel!

Those actors were surprisingly good. It's a shame I haven't seen the movie yet.

Here's the thing I don't get about these kinda reboots. They take 30/40's humor and simply repeat it in the modern age. They even go as far as make them dress the same. So even if the performance and jokes land, there's a disconnect. They are already out of time. If they really want to do this, why not do it as a period piece?

I had no idea this even existed until watching this video. I know the two actors (the fact it was the same director of the Ernest movies was odd) But this seems exactly the kind of stuff that got lost in the shuffle in the late 90s early 2000s. And I can see exactly why.

Loving the content bud. Keep at it!

Loving these Forgotten Failures vids!

this movie is fine and works well for what it is. I didn't watch a lot of original Laurel & Hardy as a kid, so this was sorta my introduction to the duo though I had heard about them before the movie. It's a competent film for what it is, it may have it's flaws but it works well and I found it funny.

Being a longtime Laurel and Hardy fan, this was something I definitely took with a grain of salt when I first rented it from a local Blockbuster Video in the Fall of 1999. It definitely was a tough thing to swallow, but yes like you mentioned, it felt like a movie made for the fans like myself who even at the time of being 16 years old hadn't seen anything new or rereleased for the classic shorts/features. I remember that it was put together by the same people who worked on the Ernest films and thought, well that's clearly my loyalty showing as an Ernest fan, I may enjoy just about anything that those people put out. Although to this day, I still haven't managed to watch (And I'm sure you will include or feature this in a future video!) 'Dr. Otto and The Riddle Of the Gloom Beam'! I eventually recorded this off HBO when they did a random afternoon showing of it during 2001 I believe.

You're my new favorite channel! I love all your videos, keep it up sir!

Really enjoying these videos. Cheers!

Awesome to see another 90s born Laurel N Hardy fan! I had a Chaplin Bday cake. Great content!

Very well made video. You show appreciation rather than criticism, a very good review!

Never heard of this film but you did a great job describing it. Excellent.

Wow you are releasing videos very quickly! Good job, I'm enjoying your work.

I remember watching the reboot movie on HBO in 1999/2000 when I was 2/3 years old. I loved it and Ive been a fan ever since.

I think a better plot for this would’ve been having Laurel and Hardy working as security guards at the museum and the mummy is stolen whilst they’re on watch so they have to get it back, that’s way more simple and could lead to some fun set pieces whilst not relying on a big budget for special effects and costumes to create supernatural entities

It's the time period that throws me off. They are dressed as they were in the 1920's while being in the 1990s. The movie would have worked better if the story too place in the 1920s or whenever most of their original movies took place. Also, they could have done a "fish out of water" style of story with them time travelling to 1999 and them learning how to adapt but failing to do so.

Never knew so much went into this Laurel and Hardy movie! Thank you for this video and for bringing awareness to the comedic duo! Personally as a kid, I was more into Abbot and Castello but thats thanks to the Looney Tunes parodied shorts!

I always remember a commercial for windshield wipers I used to see in the late 1980's that had Laurel and Hardy lookalikes, and I remember thinking it was actually them, and being confused as to how they were still around and still looked like themselves.

Just wanted to say, i just found your channel and its a real gem. Keep up the good work.

That's amazing you had a Laurel and Hardy birthday cake. Fantastic video!

I love the line that this came when a bunch of big screen reboots of classic comedies was all the rage. The irony is that none of those reboots was at all successful. Comedy reboots are nearly impossible to get right, you can't replace the timing/delivery/charisma of a comedian.

Next to Steve Coogan, Bronson also did an honorable job portraying Stan Laurel

I'm really glad I stumbled upon this channel; your videos are excellent and cover pretty uncommon topics! Along these same lines, is there any chance you'll cover the Farrelly Bros' Three Stooges reboot someday?

The performances are fantastic. And I do like that "Follow that limo" bit.

I was waiting for this to come out. I thought it was coming out soon. Here it is to my surprise!

Love your videos. Keep 'em comin', but don't burn out. I wanna be watching new videos in 5, 10 years. :)

I was excited when I heard of this movie and I watched it with my kids, whom I had raised to appreciate Laurel and Hardy. The film flopped with us, too although we were impressed with the performances. When the Three Stooges movie came out, I didn't bother. I think the classic comedians should be left alone. Those who really pay homage to them the most are those who preserve their films so they don't whither away. After nearly a century, (some of the silent films surpassed 100 years) they stand on their own and are still gaining new fans as technology makes them available to more people.

I never knew this movie existed. Which seems to have been a blessing.

Great content bro. Interesting educational , entertaining.

So now all we need is the Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd , and WC Fields tribute movies...

Wow - Never knew about this movie, until I realize it came out right when I started college. Before then, any and all type of comedy/cartoon adaption (Addams Family, Flintstones, Bilko, Beverly Hillbillies, Casper, Car 54 Where Are You? etc) - good and bad was good by me LOL thanks to cable and video stores. Judging from their performances seen in this video, I'll search it out of possible - but similar to the Stooges movie, maybe they should have started with shorts/specials and built up towards full length movies from that just like the actual comedy teams (?) And thanks for explaining about Larry Harmon - I'd see his name on old Laurel and Hardy comic books in shops and wonder why it was "Larry Harmon's Laurel & Hardy" (had me thinking maybe it was a competing product to actual legitimate Laurel & Hardy comic books. Thanks again!

never heard of this before thanks for sharing :)

As an Italian fan of Laurel & Hardy I admit I never heard of this ill-fated reboot. Thanks for the video.

Nice, cool to see more history on this.

Bronson Pinchot is so good with accents. I listened to his narration of a series of books called the Grimnoir Chronicles, and he is so great with all the various characters' nationalities and accents.

Good I freaking love your content 🤩

DAMN you weren’t kidding about staying tune. Awesome job sir!

You're right, I had no idea this ever existed. I did love Gailard Sartain in all the Ernest movies though...my favorite being "Ernest goes to Camp", he's frigin hysterical.

Heeeey I remember watching this as a kid. Thanks for sharing

This is an excellent video. I didn't know this film existed!

Wow! These guys were really amazing!

Great video and look forward to your documentary. I’ll be more than happy to promote it on my site

Love how they use the phrase “some bozo” considering the context

That “laurel and hardy” birthday cake is so cute! And you look so cute and happy!

Great review of this.

I watched this movie after watching a lot of the original shorts and movie and I really do get why this movie rubbed people the wrong way. There's just something off about how Stan and Ollie (or their nephews) are portrayed and this and it doesn't really catch the same sort of love that the two characters had. For one thing I noticed Ollie didn't come off as having the same sort of arrogant charm to him. He was this big tall man who had a refined Southern charm to him and while he did act like a jackass at times you can't help but love him because of how he used his words and spoke; he was smooth. Stan was sweet natured but ditzy and didn't speak that much. When he did he held the same sort of charm that Ollie did thanks to his mannerism and, yes I will admit this, his amazing British accent. A Southern American gentleman and a Brit. It was wonderful. When I watched this movie, I felt that Stan talked way too much and his dizziness was played too thick and Ollie came off as just more cranky than anything else without any of the charm. They were more OBNOXIOUS than funny and they didn't play off well with the world they were in. As you mentioned in the review, the story feels more like an Abbott and Costello plotline and it does. A lot of the movies that Ollie and Stan were in were more grounded in reality with the situations amped up thanks in part to their actions. Sure, they had shorts where something weird happened but it wasn't the main focus of their library. If anything, I could see the two trying to get into some business venture since Ollie was always trying to find ways to make money usually using Stan as a testing dummy for the hard work while he handled the words and maybe that's just it. The two didn't feel like they were the driving force in the story. And the whole explanation that the two were their nephews didn't make sense and was pointless. It didn't add anything it and feels like it was dropped out of nowhere as an excuse to avoid questions and criticism from the audience. It just didn't work sadly. Granted, even with all of this, it's not the worst thing I've seen and I enjoyed your retrospective of it going into the production of it which was more interesting than the movie itself. The more I think about it, the more it comes off that this may have done better as a straight period piece comedy movie or if they did update it, they could have handled the idea of the main characters be their nephews and actually have that be a part of the plot rather than something that is forgotten a second later.

Sometimes the best things in life are the things you remember.

I think you should do a video on the biopic too and why it flopped at the box office. I personally watched it and fell asleep in the movies but still was captivated at the sadder scenes towards the end

Thanks for this👍

My late pal Chuck McCann was a friend of Stan's, and the many commercials he made with the great Jim McGeorge were a tribute blessed by Stan before his passing. Chuck said privately that Mr. Laurel would roll over in his grave if he had seen what Larry Harmon made of their legacy, and I can't help but to agree. Here you can see Chuck performing as Ollie with another actor I'm sure many of you know and love. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mJeJnKqgxLG9do0.html

surprisingly good impersonations, I think I'll look for a copy of this.

Eva shame that it failed. I would LOVE to see a reboot of the reboot. This one looked VERY well done and stayed true to original franchise paying tribute.

This movie came out two years ago and I didn't even know it existed till right now.