Arthur 2: On the Rocks

Arthur 2: On the Rocks

In the opening of “Arthur 2: On the Rocks”, Arthur Bach is once again a blissful drunken idiot, spreading unfocused cheer as far as $750 million can take him. This is how it should be. For Arthur, innocence is key. It’s important for him not to understand his condition or what he does to people around him.

In the original “Arthur” (1981), fecklessness was all that mattered in the comedy of Arthur. If Arthur had one shred of self-awareness, one momentary glimpse into himself, he would have been lost. It took perfect timing with delicate poise by Dudley Moore who performed an amazing juggling act where he played someone who couldn’t handle themselves but never lost control over their performance.

I guess it’s harder for an actor playing drunk than sober because you have fewer parts of personality available for reference points. The drunk is always more or less in same state sometimes more so; sometimes less so and through every other emotion must pass through drunkenness as a filter. He could be happy drunk; sad drunk; brave drunk; confused drunk but these are different notes within single chord.

What Moore did brilliantly was show us Arthur trying desperately hard (through endless booze) to focus on appropriate feelings with various degrees of success. We almost knew what went on in his mind when he hazily appraised situation and puzzled out proper response before signaling world that he tried acting it out somehow or another. That sincerity coupled with resolute determination amid total bewilderment formed basis for his appeal.

At beginning “Arthur 2: On The Rocks,” our hero starts off from exactly where we left him last time equally hilarious while intoxicated beyond measure however then this movie takes well-intentioned yet catastrophic turn by deciding that now Arthur has got to grow up; rise to occasion once in life ; start taking care about himself.

This works very well for Arthur but not so much so for the film. Arthur can only be funny if he’s not tragic. In first film, he was hovering over great fall. In this one like Wile E. Coyote from Road Runner cartoons, he looks down just once too often. And when finally realizes what has happened to him and tries doing anything at all, the comedy goes out of movie.

Here’s plot: Arthur is happily wedded with Linda (Liza Minnelli), his loyal and understanding love who he met during part one.

They’re trying hard to adopt baby then very rich Bert Johnson (Stephen Elliott) shows up. Recall that this character played Susan’s dad (Jill Eikenberry in “Arthur”; Cynthia Sikes in “Arthur 2”), which means that she was this other rich girl whom he jilted so as marry Linda?

What happens is that he will take control of Arthur’s inheritance, leaving him penniless and homeless, unless he divorces Linda and marries Susan. This causes a problem which Arthur unfortunately solves by stepping up to the occasion and stopping his drinking. Such determination can do wonders for Arthur’s happiness and life expectancy, but it doesn’t help the movie at all because when Arthur gets sober, the film stops being a comedy and starts resembling a sitcom. The story is no longer about Arthur trying to deal with the world while drunk; now it becomes about how things go wrong in Susan’s dad’s plan.

The trouble is we don’t care what kind of secrets are hidden in the old billionaire’s past. We ‘re not interested in how smartly or successfully Arthur tackles this crisis either. It is wrong even to try; instead of recovering his senses as before, here Arthur must sink deeper into bewildered confusion until saved again by some chance event, lucky star or kindly heaven. In other words, what we least expect from this film is seeing Arthur improve.

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