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7.7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 7.7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Helpmates remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have twenty minutes and want to see two grown men absolutely ruin a house, yes, watch this right now. 🧹
Anyone who loves old-school slapstick where everything goes wrong will have a blast. But if you get stressed out by people making terrible decisions or messy rooms, you might actually hate it.
The setup is so simple.
Oliver's wife is coming home at noon, and his house looks like a bomb went off after a wild party.
That is always the first mistake.
I love how Stan shows up wearing a top hat for absolutely no reason. He just wanders in like he is going to a fancy dinner, then immediately starts causing disasters.
There is this great bit where Ollie tries to change his clothes because he keeps getting dirty. He goes through about three different suits in ten minutes.
The physical comedy is just so sharp here, even when it is totally predictable. Like, you know the bucket of water is going to end up on someone's head.
But when it happens, the timing is so perfect you still laugh. It is way more frantic than their other 1932 short Any Old Port, which has more of a real story but less stove explosions.
This one is just pure, concentrated chaos in a living room.
My favorite part is probably the chimney sweep scene. Ollie gets covered in black soot, and he just stares at the camera with this look of pure, quiet defeat.
That look is better than any joke they could have written.
The ending is incredibly dark if you really think about it. The house is literally gone, but they just sit there in the ruins like nothing happened.