This is an advance review. Stan & Ollie opens in limited release December 28. It’s hard to articulate just how successful and famous comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were in their heyday. Together, Laurel & Hardy starred in over 100 films, many of them box office smashes. Their cartoonish personae and impish schtick, with the rotund Hardy constantly at the receiving end of the sticklike Laurel’s oblivious gags, fit in practically any situation.