Review of Arthur (2011) by The D — 19 Jun 2013

(4/10).

Arthur is a remake of the very funny 1977 comedy of the same name starring Dudley Moore in the title role. This remake has Russell Brand taking the place of Dudley Moore, but it's significantly less funny. The film also stars the always terrific Helen Mirren as Arthur's nanny, Jennifer Garner as Susan and Greta Gerwig as his love interest Naomi. The plot is essentially this: Arthur is a childish human being who is always partying and getting everything he wants without any effort due to his enormous amount of money. He has basically no exposure to the world. Then there comes a dilemma: Arthur must marry Susan (Jennifer Garner) or lose all of his inheritance. The problem is that Arthur doesn't really like Susan and is instead interested in Naomi. Now Arthur must get himself out of this dilemma all while learning life lessons and essentially grow-up.

The main problem with this film is Russell Brand, who is usually charming, witty and hilarious in supporting roles. In Arthur, he is the center of attention and it's like all of his charm and likability evaporated leaving a whiny, annoying man-child in his place. Arthur is supposed to be a lovable idiot, but is instead dreadfully irritating. He is just whiny and annoying the whole movie. He is funny some of the time in this movie though, his comedic timing is still on point and some of the jokes hit, but ultimately there are more misses than hits in the humor department.

The movie is never really boring, so that's definitely a positive and the acting is good enough to keep us moderately entertained. The best parts of the movie are when Russell Brand shares scenes with Greta Gerwig. Most of these scenes are more mature and charming than the rest of the movie. Nick Nolte also makes an appearance in the movie, although I couldn't understand a damn thing he said.

The movie also gives in to predictable schmaltz and cliched sentimentality during the last 20 minutes or so. I just kind of felt like this ending was lazy and way too sentimental and manipulative.

Overall, it's nowhere near the worst comedy ever as some reviewers want you to think, but it's definitely not a good comedy either. It has some decent laughs and acting and most of the scenes between Brand and Gerwig are good. It doesn't have much more than that though. If you're gonna watch this, it's not worth paying money for.