A mildly amusing bit of fluff, this remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore-John Gielgud classic never quite escapes the shadow of the original.
The raging id known as Russell Brand stars in the title role, that of a fabulously wealthy, unimaginably spoiled, and constantly inebriated zillionaire man-child who coasts through life with a collection of expensive cars and cheap women. His only true friend is the nanny who raised him (Helen Mirren, in an alteration of the Gielgud role) in lieu of his dragon-lady mum.
Arthur meets a struggling would-be children’s-book writer (Greta Gerwig) just as he’s being forced by his mother (Geraldine James) into an arranged marriage-cum-business merger with a social-climbing heiress (Jennifer Garner). It’s either love or money, though it’s not surprise that the script cops out in the end and lets Arthur have both.
Brand is charming enough, but he seems to be playing it safe here, especially compared to his roles in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, nonchalantly strolling through soft-peddled gags that don’t take full advantage of his gift for outrageousness: Arthur bidding against himself at an auction; Arthur tearing down the streets of NYC in the Batmobile; Arthur falling down a flight of stairs while dressed as a giant gummy bear. Watching Brand with his volume turned down just isn’t much fun.
There is some gravitas in his scenes with Mirren — who steals almost every one of the while projecting quiet dignity, even when wearing a Darth Vader helmet — and these provide the movie’s emotional core. She’s the true leading lady of Arthur, as Gerwig is sweet but bland and Garner is saddled with cartoon-level villainy.
The women in Arthur’s life all pester him to grow up and take more responsibility, yet at the same time enable every aspect of his self-indulgent, self-destructive behavior. By the time Arthur attends Alcoholics Anonymous late in the story (a drastic departure from the Me Decade-spawned original), We’re as befuddled by the mixed message as he is.