REVIEW: Arthur

MOVIE
Arthur

CAST
Russell Brand, Helen Mirren

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
April 8, 2011

DIRECTOR
Jason Winer

STUDIO
Warner Bros. Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 55 minutes







GRADE
B (85)







STARS
***1/2












REVIEW:

Russell Brand, possibly the raunchiest Brit of the 21st century is here once again in the remake of the Dudley Moore classic 'Arthur'. This new remake stars A list stars like Helen Mirren and Jennifer Garner. You would expect most remakes to be just plain awful and could never be compared to the original. I never saw the original 'Arthur,' but I can tell you that Russell Brand helps bring this movie plenty of laughs, as well as deliver some of the movie's most heartfelt moments. Arthur is laugh out loud funny, but also has a genuine heart placed in it.

Arthur has always been a spoiled, pampered rich boy who can only satisfy himself by getting drunk every night and sleeping with women who have no self respect. To get his life on track, Arthur's mother wants him to marry Susan, a high class woman who Arthur doesn't love. Even though he fleet want to go through with it, Arthur decides to marry Susan so he can keep the millions of dollars he's inherited. But when things take a different turn, Arthur finds himself falling in love with Naomi, a down on her luck girl residing in a small house in Queens. Arthur must now make the most important decision of his life: love, or money.

I always knew that Russell Brand was a funny comedian, but he takes his usual drunken self and places that in a bumbling but loving millionaire. His role, along with the other roles in this movie were perfectly fasted, and felt as though the actors were indeed these characters. A great presence in this movie is the always talented Helen Mirren. She doesn't give an Academy Award winning performance, but she offers many laughs and burns to the audience, while clearly showing a strong relationship with Arthur. The love interest's name in this movie is Greta Gerwig. Ms. Gerwig is probably most notable for her role in the Ben Stiller indie 'Greenberg.' I hope that she gets more roles in movies, because she was just the average 'girl next door' kind of character, which brought some more heart into the movie. The other main player in this movie is Jennifer Garner. I'm glad Jennifer is doing something different than that always denying kind of girlfriend she has been in her more previous work. In this movie, she plays the bad girl who only wants Arthur's money in order to be happy. She gave some of the movie's biggest laugh out loud moments, one scene in particular where she gets incredibly drunk. I hope she does more roles like these, because she could have a whole lot of fun with that. No one will be critically praised, but they sure will give plenty of laughs for the audience to hang with.

Since this movie is a remake, the story is far from being original. But audiences aren't looking for original stories in comedies anymore. Comedies aren't made for the story, comedies are made to deliver laughs, and you'll find plenty of those in this movie. This movie kind of reminded me of the Adam Sandler hit of last year, 'Grown Ups'. In that movie, there was no story at all, just plenty of laughs and the occasional burn on each character. It's a similar situation in this movie, but this one does have more story put into it, and I liked that. Jason Winer, the director of this movie does the best he can to bring back the classic character to the modern audience member, and luckily he succeeds at this attempt.

I can admit that not everyone will enjoy this movie. This movie was made towards one specific demographic: the mainstream comedy audience. What that means is that the average moviegoer who enjoys comedies will enjoy this movie like how they enjoyed Grown Ups. The critics, however are a different story. No offense to the top critics of the world, but this movie wasn't made for you to enjoy. If it was, this movie would get positive buzz instead of the negative buzz this will receive. But nevertheless, I had a fun time seeing this movie, and hope that many others will do the same.

Arthur is just as bumbling on the outside as he's sweet on the inside. This is a movie that you just have to sit down, have a heart, and laugh your ass of for the entire two hours this movie beholds. You don't have to rush out and see this movie on the big screen. Sure it may be more fun to be in a room with 200 people watching Russell Brand do his thing, but I believe that you can watch this movie on DVD and have the same laughs you'd have if you were to go out and see this movie. Plus, you wouldn't have to pay $20 bucks just for snacks. But still, Arthur has plenty of laughs and just the right amount of sweetness and heart to go into it. So if you want to just laugh in an adult setting for two hours and not have to suffer another night wasting money on a dumb kids movie, then you lay want to go out and meet "the world's first loveable millionaire:" Arthur.






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