Arthur (2011)

I expected to hate this film. I really did. I saw the original because I knew this was coming out, loved it, and was awaiting a very funny review in which I bash this film like no other. But I didn’t hate the movie, actually. In fact, I kind of like it. Is it anywhere near as bad as people say it is? No. It is nearly as good as the original? HECK, NO! But it is still a very good film. If it wasn’t based off of the Dudley Moore film, I think people would have been kinder to the flick. But it was not. Based off of the film of the same name starring Dudley Moore as Russel Brand’s character here, Arthur Bach, we have a revamped version of this movie around thirty years later. Arthur Bach, as I said in my review of the original film, is a lovable drunk who is being forced to marry a girl named Susan (Jennifer Garner) in order for him to keep the near-billion dollars he is the heir of. This would be just fine, except for the face that Arthur has just fallen in love with the Liza Minnelli character from the original, here named Naomi, played by Greta Gerwig. So our lovable billionaire, guided by his nanny Hobson (who in the original was played by a man, John Gielgud, in an Oscar-winning performance), here played by Helen Mirren (somebody was talking about how he wanted her to win the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress? What?), has to figure out what is more important to him, the girl or the money. It’s basically the same as having to choose between a hollow chocolate bunny wrapped in gold, or a filled chocolate bunny with some bruises, found in the bottom of the freezer. I use the chocolate bunny metaphor a lot, and I do like that metaphor very much. It represents a lot of things. But not back to the review. The movie does have a sense of charm that the original encompassed, even if in a lesser capacity. There are a lot of the jokes in the film that work, and a good few that don’t. All of the performances do take very well; the script and the direction are both simple and good, and the movie is just plain good. Nothing special about it, you forget it within the course of twenty minutes, but it’s an enjoyable experience, and not harmful at all. There is much worse stuff you can see.
7.5/10