The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy in For Love or Mummy (1999)

"For love or mummy", in a remake of the old series, tells the story of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh in search for his eternal wife and how the two are trying to save the innocent woman from her curse, causing all kinds of trouble and chaos on their way, of course.I was a bit skeptical about a remake of such a famous series, because it always has a touch of making money with it. After giving this one a try, though, I have to admit that a lot of love and effort was put into the movie and some of the slapstick elements indeed match the humour the series is famous for. The movie certainly doesn't have a strong plot or very sophisticated jokes. The special effects bear the smell of the 90s and in general you have to cope with a lot of nonsense. Nevertheless I really had fun with it and if you don't go into the movie with all too high expectations, I think you can have a good time.All in all this is something especially for slapstick fans. If you can accept new films of this series and liked the humor and style of the older titles, you can at least see this as a nice bonus.

Yowza! If anyone who loves Laurel and Hardy can watch this movie and feel good about it, you're a better person than me! This movie, while a great attempt at 'imitating' Laurel and Hardy through appearance, sound and routine, falls very short of honoring them, or even being a movie of any substance. I blame Larry Harmon. Dialogue is torn from old L+H movies and planted in unrealistically, the plot is muddled with useless characterization of the other needless co-stars, Pinchot's accent was bizarre for Stan, and while Sartain did an excellent job with Ollie's accent, he tried too hard to create the wonderful mix that was Mr. Hardy. Where was a (good) musical number? Editing is choppy, acting is stiff, lines are horrid, physics are -implausable- (although perhaps they were TRYING to give it that feel of cheap sets?), and overall it's a terrible thing to witness. It's even more painful to watch than ATOLL K, where the legendary duo did their last film in awful 1950's era writing and photography. Do yourself a favor and watch as much of the ORIGINAL Laurel and Hardy films as you can, and learn how things WERE. You know what a MAGNATE is, don't you? Stan Laurel did not perpetually reply with semi-moronic quips at every sentence. I pity anyone who thinks that THIS was a decent update/honor of the boys. Where was THE CLASSIC THEME SONG?!? Why ruin 'Here's another fine mess'? Why skip 'any the wiser'? Why was there a pointless gaggle of co-stars?! WHY MISS GULCH FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ???? WHY MUST LARRY HARMON BE IN IT? WHY BOZO!? And did THE LEARNING CHANNEL help fund the thing?I mean, really. Fart jokes, for God's sake.FART JOKES.

This is the kind of film one watches in gape-jawed, horrified silence, and yet continues to watch, mesmerized, as if watching a train wreck in slow motion. And yet, in the back of your mind, thoughts are churning: "Who on EARTH green-lighted this garbage?"Some of the preceding user comments say things like, "A good way to introduce children to Laurel and Hardy" -- an insult to children everywhere. That children would need some sort of training plan to learn to love slapstick comedy shows a profound misunderstanding of the nature of children the world over. Others have commented on the faithfulness of the two stars' characterizations of Laurel and Hardy to which I would respond: so WHAT? One would think that the rash of movie BOMBS based on beloved series (Rocky and Bullwinkle, Avengers, Flipper, Mod Squad, ad nauseam) would have taught Hollywood that there are some things that simply can't be recreated. The films of Laurel and Hardy are readily available on video: why bother with this?As for F. Murray Abraham, a fine actor of stage and screen... well, all I can say is, he must have been in trouble with the IRS.Run, don't walk, away from the television if this trash comes on!

I'm a SON OF THE DESERT. The Boys were what pure laughter arising from the norm was all about. No attempt should ever be made to recreate that. It was unique and stands alone for the ages. No one would try to remake Michelangelo's Pieta, nor restructure Beethoven's Fifth. Yes, their comedy achieved the level of great art. Can anyone say why they lasted all those years, and after seventy-odd years, the world continues to demand their films?