Arthur

Arthur

The thing about Moore, whom people still called “Cuddly Dudley” even though he hated it, was that he was just lovable. The thing about Russell Brand is that he isn’t, not much, and he should get points here for at least being a lot more likable than he usually lets on. He plays the alcoholic zillionaire Arthur Bach as a man who wants to party with the world and pick up the check.

Helen Mirren has the presence and authority of John Gielgud, but not the same aloof dignity. Gielgud’s Hobson was so reserved, you sometimes wanted to knock and see if anyone answered. Then again they’ve made Hobson into a nanny who played ball with him as a child, so she should be expected to love him in a more tender way.

The main plot beats are roughly the same: Arthur is drunk pretty much all of the time, and unmovable in irresponsibility. He inadvertently falls in love with a sweet young woman named Naomi (Greta Gerwig), just as his controlling mother Vivienne (Geraldine James) is arranging his marriage with a very rich woman named Susan (Jennifer Garner). Susan wants him for his name; she may be rich but she’s not welcomed into high society because her daddy (Nick Nolte) worked construction.

Naomi doesn’t care anything about that stuff and supports herself as an unlicensed guide giving bootleg tours of Grand Central Station. She’s remarkably forgiving of Arthur’s irregularities considering he has Charlie Sheen’s self-discipline and tact. But then neither “Arthur” deals with alcoholism as other than colorful character trait. Nobody could drink like this guy and not be dead at the end of 24 hours.

The casting of Greta Gerwig works nicely. Did you see her as Ben Stiller’s brother’s assistant in “Greenberg” (2010)? The thing about her is that she actually is Cuddly. We sometimes talk about personal chemistry as something that happens in casting. It probably begins at birth. She’s a woman you instinctively feel good about, like Amy Adams in “Junebug.” That quality goes a long way toward filling in the psychological blanks in her relationship with Arthur. Nice people can get away with more and take bigger chances.

Russell Brand isn’t doing a Dudley Moore imitation, but you can tell he’s seen the movie, and carefully doesn’t go over the top; it’s just as well, since the whole role lives there. I confess I haven’t regarded him as an especially subtle actor, but here he has many smile moments when he quickly and quietly reacts.

I’ll mention one almost invisible one. In the scene at the library at the end, when the kiddies are saying rude things, note how he hushes and dismisses them without much seeming to even notice them. That’s good acting. Bad acting would be to respond directly, and lose the focus of the scene, which must be on the woman he loves. Roger Ebert

This “Arthur” is not as funny as its predecessor, does less with a dinner in a sedate hotel dining room than that scene could allow and doesn’t have as much fun with the father of the Naomi character. But it is well written the dialogue is witty and quick and never clunky. The Grand Central Station scene may pile on the visuals, but they’re pretty impressive. (When did architecture lose faith in grandeur?) And Russell Brand takes on a thankless task and earns at least some thanks.

Watch Arthur For Free On Gomovies.