Arthur (1981)

Is there such a thing as a lovable drunk rich sometimes-misogynic careless man-child? Yes. And who would this one be? Arthur Bach, an heir to nearly a billion dollars. He has never worked a day in his life, and is taken care of by his nanny Hobson (John Gielgud). For lack of a better word, Arthur Bach is the original man-child. Before Will Ferrell ran his shtick into the ground, the original man-child was Dudley Moore. And I say this for one reason-he is a grown man but he acts like a five-year-old. A drunk, rich and lazy five-year-old, but yes, a five-year-old. Actually, he acts younger than a five-year-old. He acts like he’s three. But, you know how that, even if a three-year-old burns your house to the ground, you just wanna hug him forever? That’s what you kind of feel with Arthur Bach. You just want to cuddle him. You want good things to happen to this man. And they do. And they don’t. It’s kind of a mixture. What happens is that Arthur meets a girl (played by Liza Minnelli, who was on Arrested Development), who he immediately falls in love with. And they would be just fine, except for one reason-he is in the middle of an arranged engagement with Susan (Jill Eikenberry). He doesn’t love her, he loves this other woman. So he should just cancel with Susan, right? WRONG! Because his engagement is a business transaction, and if he cancels it, he would lose his 750 million dollars (remember, this is in 1981 money, so it’s even more now). And what is a spoiled playboy going to do without his money? Either do what he wants, or keep the money? And, in a nutshell, that is the plot of Arthur. Sounds kind of light, doesn’t it? Most plots for these really smart comedies are. What is the plot of Arrested Development? A man goes to jail and his extremely dysfunctional family has to live without his money. It’s thin too, is it not? And yes, Arthur is an extremely smart and funny comedy. There are no moments where you are bending over laughing. You want that, go and watch a Will Ferrell movie. And they’re not bad, they’re just not as smart as this movie is. And with the remake out on DVD, and me watching it in a few days (hopefully. I don’t wanna pay for it, so I’m waiting for it to come to my library. Remember kids, what you don’t wanna pay for, mooch off of public buildings. But return that stuff, because I want to watch it too), I wanted to see this. And you should do. Now I really don’t wanna see the remake. Why remake this? Why remake an Oscar-winning comedy? Money, that’s why. Wow. I’m getting cynical before I even have a DVD in my hand. I think that’s a new record.
8.5/10