beauzee always had a fondness for this picture..not sure why. this time the lovable but confused pair protect a young boy (boy King, well played by David Leland).they are moderately successful cook and server this time, managing to get a good gig with a rich couple, who not only welcome the boys but the boy.on the way to the first big meal Stan and Ollie coach some young footballers, one an add-on, the boy king, absolutely obsessed with American football. then they successfully grab a steak away from a lion at a zoo. pleasant stuff, well done. (not so for the steak...). on a roll, they sneak the kid in to the mansion.then..can U believe it, some funny business ensues! check it out! so far so (pretty) good...but quickly the film slips. a lot of unpleasant, inappropriate, nightmarish junk about an Uncle's attempt to kill the child. their most sentimental film has a way of getting to you. but it's the kind of L & H you have to be in the mood for. 99% of their career is good for any time of day.

fang123horn On my nineteenth birthday I went to the movies to see BENCHWARMERS, which was decent but I feel that it had too many gross out moments. It is interesting to see that when a comedian is in decline they turn towards the children audience that's what happen with David Spade and Rob Schneider and also Abbott & Costello. This goes the same with Laurel and Hardy. I taped this movie off of TCM and I watched it later on and I found this was a lot more funny and lot more heart than say, BIG DADDY. To me they are the only comedians to have been so cuddley they could've been dolls. The movie is a mix of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER and THE KID. The boys are hired as chefs for a social woman who is planning a dinner for a king. The king is a boy who dreams to be a football player and runs off to pretend he's ordinary and he runs into Stan and Ollie. His uncle wants him dispose and hires Stan and Ollie to put them on a murder rap for the king. This is very funny movie highlights include the boys referring a boys football game and Stan stealing a steak from a lion. The sentiment of the film works best for them because it makes you feel more close to them then ever. Most L&H fans dislike the movie but since I don't have a chance to see all their films are out of availibility, I think its their best work.

maxcellus46 This film is not even on par with any of the films they did for Hal Roach that were considered "not too good" such as "Swiss Miss" or "Pick A Star". Consider the times and the studio the boys were working at. First, this was made during the heyday of such comics as Abbott & Costello and the Hope/Crosby road pictures, where practically everything was based upon snappy dialog and wisecracks, not premise and development of a single gag or joke. Laurel & Hardy's method was to be methodical in their approach to humor and not just "whizz bang" type of running around, which in the long run is actually totally forgettable. Secondly, as the Marx Brothers had already realized early on after the untimely death of Irving Thalberg, their only support at MGM, Louis B. Mayer had absolutely no sense of humor and certainly didn't appreciate great comedians. Hence one of the main reasons Buster Keaton ended his days at MGM working as a "gag writer" for $200 a week and why the Our Gang series became a venue for maudlin "morality" plays. What else could anyone expect when Laurel & Hardy would have to work in such a comedic stifling environment? It's a wonder that they were able to get anything accomplished with a bunch of deadheads checking their every word and action in a script that was hopeless to begin with. It certainly answers the question as to why very early on Chaplin maintained absolute sole control over his own career. "Nothing But Trouble" has its moments but they are too few and far between. There isn't even the usual background music used as in their early shorts for Roach, which emphasizes the action taking place. Fow example at the end where our heroes are dangling on the ledge of a building ala Harlod Lloyd, there's only dead silence where appropriate music could have really added to the comedy and tension of the scene. My advice? Watch this one first then go back about ten years and watch something like the boy's "Sons of the Desert" from 1933 and really start laughing at the real Laurel & Hardy. Nothing beats a vintage L&H film.

mandzirm Nothing But Trouble, like most of the films Laurel and Hardy made for MGM and Fox at the end of their career, is really sad to watch. For fans familiar with their earlier work, it is depressing to see them half-heartedly reworking their earlier material. It is unfortunate that these weak films from the end of their career are among their most frequently found video titles. Younger people picking up Nothing But Trouble off the video rack may never realize what they are missing.