Starring: Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Garner, Geraldine James, Luis Guzmán and Nick Nolte
Directed By: Jason Winer
Screenplay By: Peter Baynham
Story By: Steve Gordon
Produced By: Larry Brezner, Kevin McCormick, Chris Bender and Michael Tadross
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Rating: PG-13, for alcohol use throughout, sexual content, language and some drug references.
Running Time: Approximately 110 minutes
Website: arthurthemovie.warnerbros.com
Budget: $40 million
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: April 8, 2011
As TRON: Legacy proved last fall, there’s a receptive audience out there for remakes and sequels to decades-old films, however obscure they may be.
So when word came down the pike that Warner Bros. was doing an update of the 1981 comedy Arthur, with wild child Russell Brand assuming the drunken playboy role made famous by the late-Dudley Moore, the question changed from, “Is there an audience for this” to, “Will it be funnier than the original?”
Considering Russell Brand’s other film in wide release, Hop, retained its number one ranking for the second weekend in a row, and Arthur placed third overall, it appears the audience wasn‘t so much interested. But is it funnier? Read on.
In this revamped take on the 30-year-old comedy, Brand plays Arthur Bach, a boozehound, childlike playboy who is heir to a billion-dollar fortune. A fortune that he’s in danger of losing after his frigid, calculating mother Vivienne (Geraldine James) threatens to cut him off unless he agrees to marry Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner), the power-hungry daughter of a wealthy developer (Nick Nolte).
A monkey wrench is thrown into the arranged impending nuptials when Arthur meets Naomi (Greta Gerwig), a plucky, unlicensed New York City tour guide who cares for her father in their modest apartment and aspires to become a children’s book author. Arthur takes an instant liking to her.
Arthur finds himself in one hell of a quandary: does he marry power-hungry Susan and spend the rest of his life in a loveless marriage of mutual convenience, or does he follow his heart and carve out an inheritance-free life with his true love Naomi?
There are some marked differences between this shrewd remake and the 1981 original. For example, Moore played Arthur as a drunken, entitled womanizer so when his butler Hobson, played by Sir John Gielgud in an Oscar-winning performance, dryly mocks his childlike behavior in that stiff-upper lip way only the British can, it’s not only funny, it’s entirely deserved. Where upon in the remake, there are times when Hobson (who has undergone a gender reversal and is wonderfully played by Oscar winner Dame Helen Mirren), mocks Brand’s Arthur, who has more in common with Peter Pan than a perpetually drunken whoremonger, the good-natured ribbing isn‘t so much funny as it is scathing.
For better or worse, Arthur is Russell Brand’s show and your overall enjoyment of the film will depend quite a bit on your tolerance level of him and his antics. Brand is the sort of performer who seems right at home in a juicy supporting role and not entirely comfortable as the main attraction. At least, not yet, anyway. There are moments in the film where he shines, particularly in his scenes opposite Mirren, and in one inspired date sequence with Gerwig that takes place at Grand Central Station. It’s perhaps the best use of that location since the waltz sequence from 1991’s The Fisher King.
Garner, however, is wasted. She is so much better than the material she’s given, as anyone who’s a fan of “Alias” or Juno can attest. Her role, played by “L.A. Law” alum Jill Eikenberry (who was a better fit in the role) in the original, has been expanded. But it’s all for naught. She’s upstaged by Gerwig (Greenberg, No Strings Attached) who assumes the Liza Minnelli role from the original. Gerwig, a veteran of mumblecore films, is quickly proving herself to be a valuable asset to any film she’s a part of. She’s seemingly incapable of being dull.
2.5 stars
