Title: Arthur
Director: Jason Winer (TV’s ‘Modern Family’)
Starring: Russell Brand, Jennifer Garner, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig (‘No Strings Attached’)
Mixing a controversial comic and an award-winning television director to remake a classic comedy movie usually paves the way for a successful film. Warner Bros. drew attention to its remake of the hit 1981 comedy film ‘Arthur’ when it announced it cast Russell Brand in the title role, as the actor is possibly more well to American audiences for his personal life than his career. But even the comedian’s eccentric and surprisingly relatable portrayal of Arthur can’t completely save first-time film director Jason Winer’s re-visioning of the hit Dudley Moore movie.
‘Arthur’ follows the title character as he goes through life not taking responsibility seriously. Arthur forgoes getting a real job or taking on his family’s legacy at their foundation, Bach Worldwide, to instead drink and party. When his mother, Vivienne (portrayed by Geraldine James), give Arthur an ultimatum to either marry his ex-girlfriend, corporate executive Susan Johnson (played by Garner), or give up his inheritance, Arthur reluctantly agrees to go ahead with the marriage.
With the help of his life-long nanny Hobson (portrayed by Mirren), Arthur realizes that he truly loves Naomi Quinn (played by Gerwig), a tour guide he meets at Grand Central Station. While Naomi has romantic feelings for Arthur, she doesn’t want to have an affair with someone who’s engaged to someone else. So Arthur does whatever he can to hold onto both Naomi and his inheritance, much to the dismay of his mother and Susan.
While Brand rose to fame in the movie industry with his break-out role of the womanizing rock star Aldous Snow in the hit 2008 comedy and its 2010 spin-off ‘Get Him to the Greek,’ he showed his acting versatility in ‘Arthur.’ While Warner Bros. took a chance on Brand when they hired him to revive Moore’s character, the comic surprisingly proved he can adapt to any comedic role he’s cast in.
Over the course of the movie, Brand will make viewers truly believe Arthur is conflicted over whether or not he should marry Susan just to keep his inheritance. Not only does Arthur fight with Vivienne over how much say she has in his life, Brand seems to understand the struggle of listening to what other people tell him to do, and what he truly wants to do.
Brand also has an easy connection with Gerwig, which is easily seen on screen whenever the two have scenes together. While Brand and Garner worked well together, he seems more at ease when he acted alongside Gerwig. While Gerwig only made her mainstream film debut in 2010’s ‘Greenberg’ alongside Ben Stiller, she convincingly brought an innocence to the role of Naomi. As a result, Brand was able to make Arthur realize she wasn’t taking advantage of him, like Susan was.
While the cast was able to play off of each other’s comedic cues quite well, Winer unfortunately didn’t live up to the creative hype he created for himself when he won the Directors Guild Award Award for Outstanding Achievement in Directing a Comedy Series last year for ‘Modern Family.’ It seemed as though Winer allowed screenwriter Peter Baynham, who penned ‘Arthur,’ to recycle a redundant plot line seen in many romantic comedies before; Winer doesn’t bring any originality to the over-done conflict that family and societal expectations are keeping the protagonist away from the person they truly love.
Even with his experience on ‘Modern Family,’ a show that’s known for pushing the envelope and featuring controversial topics, and casting provocative comic Russell Brand in the title role, Winer ultimately failed to create a remake that rivals the original ‘Arthur.’ While Brand deserves credit for taking on a role where the character doesn’t just continuously focus on partying, and for relating to his co-stars, even his comedic relief doesn’t make up for the film’s lack of originality.
Technical: B
Acting: B+
Story: B-
Overall: B
Written by: Karen Benardello
