Based on the lives of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Stan and Ollie is a biographical drama about the two Hollywood comedy greats in their twilight years. The narrative tracks their farewell tour of the UK, during which both performers must come to terms with past decisions and resentments.
Classification Issues
- Language
- There is mild bad language ('bloody', 'ass').
- Additional issues
- There are scenes in which people smoke cigarettes. A man experiences a 'funny turn' and falls over, indicating the beginning of a period of illness
Classification history
The distributor sent the film in for classification in June 2018, with no category request. Key issues in the film are very mild upsetting and emotional plot lines about a character’s failing health and mild bad language.
In line with BBFC Classification Guidelines, the two clear uses of mild language – an exasperated use of ‘bloody’ and a character described as an ‘ass’ – prompted the Compliance Officers who viewed the film to recommend a PG. At U the BBFC Guidelines only allow infrequent use of very mild bad language, following previous research with UK parents.
The Compliance Officers also noted a scene where a character collapses and is then very unwell. There isn’t any medical gore or strong detail, and the emotional impact of the scene is affecting but not intense in a way that would be problematic for younger viewers.
Given the time the film is set, there are also several scenes which depict characters smoking cigarettes. Though our research with the public shows no appetite for raising films out of their natural category due to smoking, we are mindful of representations of characters smoking cigars and cigarettes, especially in films aimed at children. The issue is noted in the BBFC’s content advice for Stan and Ollie, so that parents can consider the issue before allowing their children to watch the film.
Throughout the film several sequences reproduce or mimic Laurel and Hardy’s well-known and remembered slapstick scenes and skits. As such they show mild pain and accidents, but it is clearly a comic context that even young children would understand, much like that in the original films they are recreating.
The BBFC classified many of Laurel and Hardy’s original features and short films in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s including Way Out West (1937) and Another Fine Mess (1930), both classified U, which at that time meant most suitable for children’s matinee performances. One of the pair’s most iconic shorts, Big Business (1929), was classified many years later by the BBFC, also at U, with the content advice noting that it contained ‘mild slapstick’.
