Love 'Em and Weep

Yes, the movie has both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in it but it's not a 'Laurel & Hardy' movie. They're not a comical duo in this movie and they actually share very little sequences together, since Hardy's role is only a bit part. The real main character of this movie is perhaps James Finlayson. Not that I'm complaining about it thought, I love James Finlayson! He has an excellent comical timing and facial expressions, which fits the genre extremely well.

The movie was later in 1931 remade again by Laurel & Hardy with sound this time, under the name "Chickens Come Home". That movie is basically a scene-by-scene remake only with the actors in different roles. (Oliver Hardy in the James Finlayson role and James Finlayson as the butler, among other changes.) Yet the remake is better, not only because it has sound but also because it has more sequences with Laurel & Hardy together with also as a result that the slapstick comes over as even more hilarious and the comical moments are just as well, if not better, timed and executed.

The movie is fun from start till finish. It has some excellent comical characters in it and a very good build up. The movie gets more and more funny as the movie progresses and builds up to the unavoidable confrontation in the Finlayson residence. It makes the movie probably one of the better build up comedies from Laurel & Hardy and the silent era in general.

It's a very enjoyable and fun movie but not as good as the inferior remake, that is one of the better Laurel & Hardy shorts.

7/10

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