Arthur (2011)

A drunken playboy stands to lose a wealthy inheritance unless he marries a woman he doesn't like, meanwhile he falls for tour guide that his family doesn't approve of.

Entertaining comedy in which Russell Brand surprisingly comes across more lovable that Dudley Moores original incarnation. There are some genuine funny scenes notably with a magnetic bed, children's store, the Batmobile getting pulled over (yes, really) and when Arthur goes nail gun happy with future father-in-law Burt Johnson perfectly played by Nick Nolte.

The realistic sets, New York setting including Grand Central Station act as interesting backdrop that director Jason Winer full utilises. Greta Gerwig as the love interest Naomi Quinn is on likable form while Jennifer Garner refreshingly goes against all American girl typecast as socialite Susan Johnson. Evander Holyfield, Luis Guzmán and Geraldine James Geraldine James put in an appearances. Helen Mirren's Hobson is touchingly portrayed and Mirren steals the show with her grounded and humanistic performance.

Overall the story stinks of countless 80's rom-coms but Arthur is entertaining nonetheless due to its nostalgic yet contemporary reworking and Russels' engaging tongue-tied performance.

Fmovies: How can a comedy, a movie usually designed to make people laugh, bore me to tears? Throw in a thoroughly unlikable protagonist making unfunny "witty" jokes while acting like a man child and you've got yourself one of the best sleeping pills to ever hit a cinema near you.

Arthur (Russell Brand) is a spoiled, rich 30-something wasting money every 30 minutes to enjoy his life while being watched over by his disapproving nanny/surrogate mother, Hobson (Helen Mirren). When Arthur's mother, the owner of a multi-billion dollar corporation, has had enough of Arthur's immaturity, she threatens to cut him off unless she marries the responsible and completely-out-of-her-mind businesswoman, Susan (Jennifer Gardner). While Arthur begrudgingly plans to go through with the marriage to keep his fortune, he struggles with the prospect when he meets and connects with the part-time con artist Naomi (Greta Gerwig). "Wackiness" ensues. For two boring hours.

I was coming into this film ready to hate Russell Brand, who's very appearance makes we want to take a shower to wash away the filth. For his first lead role, he doesn't really bomb it completely but... he's just not a funny guy. The sad part is, you can see him try to be funny, when he starts acting out and behaving like a child. So he pretty much looked at Will Ferrell and decided to copy what he's been doing in his very, very worst movies. So it doesn't come across as funny, it's just sad. Brand never reaches the level of annoyance he stooped to in "Get Him to the Greek" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", but he's definitely not a leading man. He has no charm, no attraction, and no likability. And he does this for two unforgivable hours.

While you never care about Arthur, you oddly care more about the supporting cast. You really feel for Helen Mirren's Hobson and her exasperation with putting up with this rich, spoiled little brat. She's dry and sarcastic, and the film's best moments (which are few and far in between) all belong to her. Even Greta Gerwig is more charming than the lead, and you actually feel sorry her when she gets hurt in the movie. Jennifer Gardner has fun as a psycho for all 10 minutes she's in this film. That's right, she can only be here ten minutes of this two hour waste of time.

But a comedy needs funny situations, and this film is sorely lacking in that department. Even though Brand plays with the famous movie cars and rents out Grand Central Station, there's nothing to laugh here. I'll admit I giggled at a snarky remark here and there, but like I said, it never comes from Russell Brand. You see a couple of ridiculous things like the DeLorean or the Batmobile (the bad one), and you feel like you're ready to smile but the movie does nothing with them. While this film didn't anger me, it commits the cardinal sin of being boring. They have two montages of nothing interesting happening, and there came points while dialog was going on and I almost started snoozing. And did I mention this "comedy" is two unholy hours long?

At the end of the day, Arthur is an irritating movie with a thoroughly uncharming and unfunny protagonist. It's a waste of time and money that only has a few funny moments peppered in. Rent it to pass the time, but do not expect to laugh. Expect to catch some Zs.

* out of (****)

After giving such a rancid review to "The rite", making the claim that it was the worst film so far of 2011, well... 2011 has a new contender. Even going in, I knew this film was going to be atrocious from start to finish. Why see it then? Apparently my friend's fun night out consisted of buying my ticket to a movie I didn't ask to see, then having to reimburse him/her later, and eventually just seeing the damn movie.

Honestly, I kept in open mind in the beginning, but this film just did not do it for me. Even in the most stale comedies, I can laugh here or there. I NEVER laughed or chuckled. Not even a heartfelt smile. I honestly sat there with the same blank expression. What's even worse is that I predicted absolutely every scene, guessed every punchline, and even knew going it what I was going to get.

First of all, let's talk about the performers. Russell Brand is seriously the most irritable, pretentious actor, or at least in this film. I swear, I did not care at all about him. He didn't bring any charm or wit, he was just flat. Jennifer Garner was as equally obnoxious, but at least she didn't take up the majority of the film. As for the others? Honestly, I didn't connect to any characters. There was no development, no depth, no purpose. The characters were just there.

Not to mention, this story has been told a thousand times before. Can Hollywood stop beating a dead horse? Remake or not, the script is just very uninspired. Rich, pretentious dude has to marry an equally rich, pretentious dude, but falls for an arrogant, so called "sweatheart" and doesn't care about the "money". Maybe this would be interesting had it not been projected on the screen so many times.

All in all, "Arthur" is just another waste of celluloid. It isn't funny, it's not entertaining, and it's not worth seeing. Plain and simple. Had I not been forced to see this movie, trust me, I wouldn't have. If you MUST see it, please just rent the original. It's probably better than this movie. All I'm glad is that 2011 so far has had only two stinkers, or at least I've seen.

Arthur fmovies. Was this remake horrible? No, but it also wasn't that great. In only a couple of scenes did this film lift itself above mediocrity. In comparing this update to the 1981 version, the original is simply better on every point. Russell Brand is probably the best choice they could make for the lead, but he doesn't measure up to Dudley Moore's Arthur. And the wonderful Helen Mirren does her best, but she just can't match John Gielgud's witty portrayal of Hobson. The writing fell particularly short of the mark. The one bright spot for me was Greta Gerwig, whom I had not previously seen. She did a fine job of making a thinly-written character become real. I look forward to seeing her in the future.

I don't jump on the bandwagon of immediately hating on a remake as there are some great ones out there. I watched the Arthur remake as I do like Helen Mirren a lot and I personally don't mind Russell Brand. But I was hesitant too as to me the trailer didn't wow me over, I didn't laugh once, and by the end of last week I was starting to get annoyed at Offenbach's Can Can(a fun piece especially to dance and sing along to but can get on your nerves sometimes depending on the time and place) being played for the hundredth time.

Arthur wasn't for me quite the abomination that I heard it was, but in all honesty I didn't see much point to it. It is better than the Psycho and Wicker Man remakes both of which almost made me lose the will to live, but for a good remake look towards The Thief of Baghdad, The Magnificent Seven and especially The Thing. If I were to compare this to the 1981 film, the 1981 film is much better being very funny and charming and I actually preferred the much-maligned-but(in my opinion)-better-than-its-reputation sequel over this too.

I will get the good things out of the way. I did like very much how the film looked and the location shooting is very striking and the soundtrack is infectious. But here come the many negatives. While I admire that Arthur tried to stick faithfully to the original film, I think there are times when it tries too hard and it comes off as being too faithful. Except here while there was wit, fun and charm in the original and in its sequel, there is not enough of that here, the severe letdown that is the ending pretty much epitomises this. The script is often unfunny and juvenile, severely lacking in the acidity and drollness that worked so well before, and the gags are really quite weak, predictable and poorly timed.

I don't mind a movie where it has moments of predictability, a lot of movies do, but it does bother me when there are too many moments throughout where it is. That is the case with Arthur, and I can't count the number of times where I was saying to myself "now where have I seen this before". Again, I don't mind when a movie show little or nothing new, but the difference is Arthur in the end didn't make me overlook that because it was lacking in charm.

The direction is rather poor as well, often rushed and smug, and there were times where I felt there should be more time to breathe. And there are some moments where there is little or no humour that are really quite dull. The acting overall fares little better. I have to say though Russell Brand did have very big shoes to fill and he does do an admirable job trying to convey some spontaneous cheeky charm. The problem is not only is his material unfunny and dreadfully weak but his titular character clichéd and unlikeable. Arthur in the original was clichéd in a way but I found as the film progressed you warmed to him, here I grew tired of him.

I cannot deny that Greta Gerwig is talented, but she too is ill-served with her material. She has no snappy lines, no funny joke, no witty gag to write home about, so overall it was the pretty-but-bland acting performance. I'd say the same for Jennifer Garner as well, and also that her frothy acting style didn't entirely work within the tone and style of the film. I was most saddened about Helen Mirren, bless her she tries so hard, but in the John Gielgud role she can't do anything with her lines, she has some decent delivery but there is none of the droll and acidic quality in the o

Went to see this because my fiancé thought the previews were funny. Admittedly, the previews I had seen made it look funny as well, but I had read some critical reviews, and wasn't enthusiastic. As it turned out, the critics were right, and I applaud the marketing geniuses who were actually able to make "Arthur" look even remotely entertaining. Brand, who I usually like, was nothing better than annoying, and he might have been the best one in the cast. The dialog was silly in parts and completely corny in others, the premise was poorly executed, and the six people at the showing I attended never let out anything more than a slight giggle from time to time, probably out of embarrassment for the performers more than anything else.

On the plus side, if my fiancé ever criticizes any of my cinematic choices, I can remind her of this tripe. That ought to put an end to that conversation.