The Worst Film Ever

Simply A Masterpiece

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Released in 1931, "Our Wife" is about Ollie planning to marry his sweetheart and with Stan as his best man. Naturally, things don't go according to plan! First, the future father-in- law James Finlayson objects to the marriage. Second, the bride to-be is of a considerable shape. The latter problem features much more later on in the film! Ollie decides to elope with his girl but this also presents a few challenges... The first half of "Our Wife" works very well but somehow, the final 10 minutes isn't quite so great. It is still a good Laurel and Hardy short but not quite vintage. I laughed at Stan trying to help Ollie prepare for the big day because you just know it won't work the way they wish!

After re-watching many of their films over the past two months I'm running out of superlatives. Our Wife is yet another brilliant short from Stan and Ollie. A frantic farce with at least 3 classic pratfalls.There's Jimmy Fin plunging headlong down the stairs: there's Ollie flying into his own wedding cake after tripping on some ice: and there's Ollie plummeting through the window when attempting to elope with his similar-sized sweetheart. How on earth did they do this stuff in 1931?The scene of Ollie and his bride trying to fit in Stan's tiny hired car is hysterical: makes me wonder did the Marx Brothers borrow this idea for their famous (and equally brilliant) stateroom scene in A Night At The Opera? Of course throw in Ben Turpin as the JP and you have another brilliant comedian to add to the salad.I'd not seen this one in many years, and each gag is simply wonderful. The laughter comes fast and furious. Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy I salute your genius.

Oliver Hardy is in love and is going to be married to Babe London, who is almost the same size. Laurel is to be best man. While Hardy tries to dress for the occasion, some flies begin to light on the elaborately prepared wedding cake. Laurel is irritated by this and spritzes the entire cake with flit. There's a conspicuous close up of the can of Flit. It was a real product, and some people still call the old fashioned sprayer with a reservoir a "flit gun." Murphy's Law applies. Everything that could possibly go wrong, goes wrong. Hardy inevitably winds up falling face-down into the wedding cake. The apartment is ruined by falling furniture and decorations. Babe London's father, James Finlayson, objects to the wedding and Hardy and his bride must try to elope in a clown car. The preacher performing the wedding ceremony is cross-eyed and marries Hardy to Laurel.It's one of the better-known shorts from the team, partly because of the climactic gag about the cross-eyed preacher. Some of the gags are adventitious -- a window slams down on the back of Finalyson's neck without any set up -- but it's still funnier than many of the other episodes.When Finalyson, a Scot, showed up, it brought to mind the varied backgrounds of the cast, with Laurel from England's Lake District and Hardy from small-town Georgia with a father who'd been wounded at Antietam. And I began to think of how NICE it must have been to make up stories and jokes with the same people over the course of so many year, and without having to take anybody else home at night. There were abrasive moments. There always are. Laurel had some problems with producer Hal Roach. Yet, being part of a team like this and working with such amusing material, must have been reasonably pleasant overall. So much more satisfying than sitting in a cubicle, at an office desk on which the most interesting object is a Boston stapler.

Our Wife is one of those Laurel and Hardy comedies that at first seem so broad and farcical (it is) but upon multiple viewings, reveal a surprising number of beautiful subtleties. I know, because my two-year- old son loves it and constantly requests it…sometimes twice a day. Look at Stan, re-entering the room after having been quickly ushered out by Ollie, who wants some privacy to talk to his beloved. It is a completely guileless gesture, just like(need I say it) a two-year-old's response to a restriction he doesn't recognize as such. And Stan's satisfied smile when Ollie explains "Why, you're the best man!" And no small credit goes to Babe London as Ollie's betrothed. Just look at her expression of guarded optimism as Justice of the Peace Ben Turpin goes through his auctioneering gibberish during the ceremony. Then, notice Ben at the fadeout. After mistakenly marrying Stan to Ollie, all he seems interested in is pushing through the group in his living room and rushing back to bed. Even their struggles to get into that 1930 American Austin Coupe, the depression era's version of the Mini-Cooper, is doubly funny when considering the context, that of a rushed getaway. The time-space continuum "takes five" as they try to maneuver themselves into the car. Ollie's exasperated query: "What did you want to hire a thing like this for?" goes unanswered, hinting at an excised shot or two, but it also signifies the boy's quick acceptance of obstacles thrown in their path and their earnest attempts to overcome them. The whole movie is a series of set pieces in which the boys go through the minimal obligatory motions of an adult rite-of-passage: the one-layer cake, frosting peeling off like a tree shedding bark, the minimal wedding decorations, the quick spray of dried rice and a shoe to the head, the mumbled wedding vows, the pro-forma "Congratulations, my boy, you've married the sweetest girl in all the world!" from the justice of the peace… it's all about two little boys playing grown-up, and overcoming the brief lacuna of adulthood and ending up back together again.