Jon S. Baird is most persuasive when he gives actors time to make a shared history believable. We like the affection and restraint of Stan & Ollie, though its drama is sometimes too tidy.
Fi1m perspective
In Stan & Ollie (2018), Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly work through Laurel and Hardy’s routines with an affection that remains convincing when the men are struggling to get along. Baird gives them room to suggest years of affection and irritation, and the recreated comedy is carefully judged. We were moved by the way Coogan and Reilly make the friendship feel worth the trouble of maintaining it. This is a good, modest film, and the clearest reason we have to recommend Baird.
He did not arrive at that gentleness by a straight route. His feature debut, Cass (2008), which he wrote, directed and produced, was a biographical crime drama about football hooligan Cass Pennant. Filth (2013), his adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel starring James McAvoy, moved into dark satire. Stan & Ollie marked a turn towards lighter biographical material, while Tetris (2023) took up the international licensing battles over a video game. The pixel animations and chapter structure in Tetris make the subject matter part of the way the story is told.
With Stan & Ollie, the weakness is how readily the screenplay supplies another difficulty for the pair. Jeff Pope writes a partnership in decline and gives the actors plenty to play, but the dramatic route is familiar and sometimes too tidy. Baird’s emphasis on rehearsal and actors’ physical and emotional detail suits the recreation of routines; we sometimes wish the film would simply let Coogan and Reilly carry on with them. The patience given to the performances makes the insistence on moving to the next problem more noticeable.
Cape Fear (2026) offers less basis for judging him individually: Baird directed one episode of a ten-episode series with nine directors. We found Javier Bardem’s unsettling courtesy and Amy Adams’s performance more persuasive than the decision to stretch the novel across that length. It would be unfair to make Baird answer for every problem in the series. Start with Stan & Ollie, provided a familiar dramatic route will not spoil the pleasure of watching Coogan and Reilly work.
Biography
Jon S. Baird is a Scottish film and television director. Born and raised in Aberdeenshire, he studied at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with an MA in Politics and International Relations in the 1990s, and began his career at BBC Television.
His feature films include Cass (2008), which he also wrote and produced; Filth (2013), which he wrote, directed and produced; Stan & Ollie (2018); and Tetris (2023). On television he has directed episodes of Vinyl (2016), Stonehouse (2023) and Cape Fear (2026). He is a BAFTA award winner and has received BAFTA Scotland awards.
