thehonorablestanlaurel Reviews

Date Movie (2006)

Alyson Hannigan Deserved Better

[1/10 · 22 February 2006]

Are you short for cash, Alyson? Is that why your beautifal face had to be seen on screen in this joke of a parody movie? I went to this movie with high expectations. I mean very high. I am a sucker for the parody genre. Ever since The Naked Gun films and Airplane!, Wrongfully Accused, Spy Hard, Scary Movie.. I've been a nut for these types of movies. So why was this one so bad? I can't really explain.. I saw all the movies they parodied, and still.. it just wasn't funny. I am absolutely in love with Alyson Hannigan. She's a very beautifal and very talented actress. Eddie Griffin is one of the funniest comedians to grace the silver screen in years. And please, Lil' Jon is in the movie! What's not to like? Well, the fact that basically, a lot of the parodies were just word for word retellings of some of the movies. The dinner scene was an ENTIRE ripoff of the Meet the Parents scene to a t. This movie tries too hard to be funny, and at sometimes its okay (the Pimp My Ride scene comes to mind), but honestly.. it just tries too hard and doesn't go anywhere. I can't say I was disappointed, it was beyond that. If there's a sequel to this atrocious comedy I'll eat my hat.

The Laurel and Hardy Show (1986– )

Well-Done Compilation of The Boys' Work

[22 December 2003]

In the late 80s, Hal Roach attempted to revitalize an interest in the brilliant work of the greatest comedy team of all time - Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. It was a success, and all he had to do was put their shorts and/or films into an hour block known as "The Laurel and Hardy Show". He gave them an opening credits montage, as well as ending every show with a dedication to someone who worked for The Hal Roach Stock Company. It aired in syndication throughout the late 80s, and in 1991 until 1993 Comedy Central broadcast it. They showed, however, Hal Roach's own colorized versions of their work (he experimented himself with these about 10 years prior, but they weren't well-accepted by classic film enthusiasts and therefore weren't aired until Comedy Central decided to do so). Since then this great show has been off the air. AMC aired The Boys' work Saturday afternoons for about a year in 1993, but they only aired a few shorts and showed the same ones over and over.

This is one show I really miss. I had all of them on tape from WWOR Ch. 9 from NYC (Sunday mornings at 8 am), and I have some on tape from Comedy Central's airings. This show definitely needs to be brought back, even if it's just to re-introduce Stan and Ollie to a newer generation.