Screenwriter Jeff Pope and director Jon S. Baird dramatize Laurel and Hardy’s 1953 comeback tour of the UK and Ireland, which they embarked upon in hopes of drumming up interest in a movie that was ultimately never made. This takes a sensitive look at the duo’s sweet-and-sour relationship, arguing that their offscreen rapport was rather similar to what they immortalized in front of the camera; what emerges is a portrait of two consummate performers who could (for the most part) put their resentments aside for the sake of their act. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are highly sympathetic as the leads (though Reilly, buried under prosthetics, uses an inconsistent British accent), and their re-creations of Laurel and Hardy’s stage routines are impressive. The film is more pleasant than edifying, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing—it generates a warm sense of reverence for a bygone era of entertainment. With Danny Huston and Shirley Henderson.