Aidons-nous

"Helpmates" is one of a number of Laurel and Hardy short comedies based on the simple premise of seeing how much damage two men can do in one home in a short time without really trying. This time, Stan is 'helping' Ollie to clean up his house after a wild party, since Ollie's wife is due home soon. There is a lot of creative slapstick as they get into one mess after another. Most of the gags this time are fairly predictable, but are funny because they're done with good timing and the usual humorous mannerisms. Laurel and Hardy fans won't be disappointed by this one.

What would you expect from Stan and Ollie when it comes to making home repairs? Yep, absolute chaos and destruction as well as a healthy dose of violence that's highly reminiscent of a Wiley Coyote cartoon. Any normal person would have been killed by all the terrible things that happen to him, but somehow Ollie survives. And, of course, Stanley is about as helpful as an elephant on roller skates. Time and time again, the viewer is rewarded by good old fashioned slapstick that is, at times, painful to watch! While this may not be their absolute best short, it is among their best and well worth your time. Cerebral humor? Nope. But funny? Absolutely.

Laurel and Hardy showed their greatness in classic shorts such as this. Slapstick with an economy of storytelling.

While the cat's away the mouse comes out to play and this big mouse, Oliver has thrown a party which has left his house in a mess and him with a hangover. Trouble looms as his wife is arriving home from a trip earlier than expected.

Oliver Invites Stan to help him clear up which leads to one disaster to another. Oliver would be lucky if his house is standing upright.

Both are at their bumbling best.

This is one hilarious Laurel & Hardy comedy short.

The story is, as always, deliciously simple. Oliver Hardy just had a wild party in his house the other night. The next morning he hears by telegram that his 'lovely' wife shall return from Chicago were she has been with her mother the last couple of days. Of course the house is a total wreck so in all his panic, Oliver calls his good friend Stanley to help to clean the mess up before Oliver's wife gets home. But of course instead of cleaning up, the boys make an even bigger mess.

This is basically the only joke of the movie; the two boys cleaning the mess up. It provides some absolutely hilarious and well executed slapstick sequences. The slapstick moments are amazingly stupid and unlikely but because of that also extremely hilarious. This movie is really filled with great slapstick moments, so fans of slapstick comedy will be absolutely delighted while watching this movie.

This is how I want a Laurel & Hardy movie to be; simple, stupid and filled with well executed slapstick humor.

9/10

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When the cat's away the mice will play. This is true when Mrs Hardy goes out of town and Ollie has a huge party that sees his house a mess and his cash lost on poker games. When a telegram arrives telling Ollie that his wife is due back at noon that day, Ollie turns to Stanley for help tidying the house – that was his first mistake.

Similar in style to many of their other shorts, this film sees the duo's attempts to fix/tidy the house actually results in more damage than existed in the first place. The set up with Ollie addressing himself (but seems like it's the audience) is a little strange but once the film moves into the whole cleaning up business it does get a lot better. Ollie goes flying over a hoover on several occasions and his suit frequent changes grow increasingly amusing. It goes without saying that the degree of mishap that Laurel causes increases throughout the film and the punchline, although not hilarious, is a good conclusion.

In terms of cast Laurel and Hardy pretty much carry this themselves. Payson makes a brief appearance as Mrs Hardy but her role is to be plain and aggressive rather than funny. That said, the film doesn't really need anyone else as the pair do good work. Hardy bears the brunt of the physical work but also does good `to camera' looks. Laurel does his usual shtick but I always think he does a lot of work `off the ball' to use a football term. Because Hardy more often is the focus of the punchline (ie the look or the fall) I always tend to notice him and forget the involvement of Laurel in the set up or enabling the film to move on – that was the case here.

Overall this is an enjoyable short that sees the tried and tested formula of `chores go wrong' used to good effect.