Arthur

Name: Arthur
Genre: Comedy
Released: April 8, 2011
Rating: 36
Cast: Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, Russell Brand

2011

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Generally unfavorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 84 Ratings

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5.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 84 Ratings

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Arthur

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: April 8, 2011

Starring: Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, Russell Brand

Summary: Irresponsible charmer Arthur Bach has always relied on two things to get by: his limitless fortune and the good sense of lifelong nanny Hobson to keep him out of trouble. Now he faces his biggest challenge--choosing between an arranged marriage that will ensure his lavish lifestyle or an uncertain future with the one thing money can't buy,Irresponsible charmer Arthur Bach has always relied on two things to get by: his limitless fortune and the good sense of lifelong nanny Hobson to keep him out of trouble. Now he faces his biggest challenge--choosing between an arranged marriage that will ensure his lavish lifestyle or an uncertain future with the one thing money can't buy, Naomi, the only woman he has ever loved. With Naomi's inspiration and some unconventional help from Hobson, Arthur will take the most expensive risk of his life and finally learn what it means to become a man, in this re-imagining of the classic romantic comedy "Arthur." (Warner Bros. Pictures)
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Director: Jason Winer

Genre(s): Comedy

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert

Apr 7, 2011

A fairly close remake of the great 1981 Dudley Moore movie, with pleasures of its own. Read full review

Empire James White

Apr 21, 2011

Brand fan? You'll likely enjoy his antics. But Russellophobics would be better off seeking out the original. Read full review

Joe Williams

Apr 8, 2011

With such a thin excuse for a leading man, Arthur is a dud. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Apr 8, 2011

It seems a bit cruel to cast Garner, who exudes charm, in such a charmless role. Read full review

Boxoffice Magazine Pete Hammond

Apr 6, 2011

This Arthur feels flat and lifeless, especially when compared to its highly successful predecessor. Read full review

Rick Groen

Apr 7, 2011

Apparently, somebody thought it was time for a remake. Clearly, somebody was dead wrong. Read full review

David Edelstein

Apr 11, 2011

In Arthur, the spectacularly grating remake of Steve Gordon's 1981 P. G. Wodehouse simulation (this time, Peter Baynham miswrote, Jason Winer misdirected), Russell Brand gives a career-killing performance. Read full review

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User Reviews

Birt

Apr 8, 2011

There is a lot of urban humor in this film which might not be appreciated by some movie goers. Many critics who saw the original 1981 â

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

ferg0

Apr 9, 2011

I don't know if I give this movie a 10 exactly, but I'm using my power of the vote to bump up the rating as best I can. This is a far cry from what was the awful "Get him to the Greek." I think through this movie Brand really has arrived on the scene, and any fan of his I'm sure willI don't know if I give this movie a 10 exactly, but I'm using my power of the vote to bump up the rating as best I can. This is a far cry from what was the awful "Get him to the Greek." I think through this movie Brand really has arrived on the scene, and any fan of his I'm sure will appreciate this movie for all that it is. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to share a laugh, bring your best friend.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

audreythomas25

Mar 8, 2016

There is no real reason for this movie to exist, but with Brand's winning star turn, it's likable and its heart is in the right place.

Watch this movie online http://www.watchfree.to/watch-2084e1-Arthur-movie-online-free-putlocker.html

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MovieGuyBrian

Apr 8, 2011

Arthur he does what he pleases - which, apparently, is to come up with nary a shred of original thought. It's an un-calculated, rushed and by-the-numbers remake with a little bit of heart and almost no soul...but it's not awful. It's meandering and hollow with glimmers of promise, faintArthur he does what he pleases - which, apparently, is to come up with nary a shred of original thought. It's an un-calculated, rushed and by-the-numbers remake with a little bit of heart and almost no soul...but it's not awful. It's meandering and hollow with glimmers of promise, faint touches of cute and a whole lot of harmless, reigned-in Russell Brand humor taking center stage. Let's say the filmmakers truly were caught between the moon and New York City in recreating an 80's gem...is this really the best that they could do?!… Expand

5 of 8 users found this helpful53

MarcDoyle

Apr 10, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It has a few fun moments, but its true worth comes from its reminding you of how good the original is. Dudley & Liza are so incredibly good, and they tower over Brand & Gerwig. And what the hell happened to Nick Nolte? He looks like a sunburned Nick Nolte blow-up doll in this movie. The 3 points I give to this film all belong to Mirren (who is brilliant), but she's not nearly enough to put it into recommended territory. The scene from the original in which the grandmother decides that "No Bach will be Poor" and gives him the money was priceless - and it's completely lost in this version. And all the comedy from Liza Minelli's dad in the original - lost in this one as well. Oh well - they dumbed it down like everything else it seems.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

Shiira

Apr 26, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Arthur Bach(Dudley Moore) is going nowhere fast. In the original 1981 version of "Arthur", the millionaire drunk races his Porsche around a circular track, and even though the late filmmaker doesn't overemphasize the point with an extended long take like Sofia Coppola did in "Somewhere", even the most amateur of semiologists can locate the metaphor. Johnny Marco, the famous film star who makes revolution after revolution on a deserted motorway in the Coppola film, like Bach, the perpetually inebriated heir to a major corporation, is no stranger to melancholy despite all appearances of having it all. If Johnny only had a snobby butler with a pithy manner of speaking. Hobson(John Gielgud) won't have none of Arthur's moaning and groaning about being unloved and miserable. Despite being a transplanted Brit, you can never really take the Englishman out of the English, and people from the U.K. believe in a stiff upper lip, not a quivering lower one. After Arthur removes both his helmet and goggles upon Hobson's request, the longtime manservant(and surrogate father) promptly slaps him in the face like an anal-retentive mobster, while calling Bach a "selfish bastard" for good measure. The unhappy playboy catches the customarily stoic old man at his breaking point. Hobson's opinion on "what's the worst part of being [Arthur]" differs from his arrested developing charge, and although he loves the "little s*it", the valet can take only so much narcissism and ignorance. He sets Arthur straight, overstepping his bounds as a mere servant by dealing out some light corporal punishment, like a father. That's what Johnny needs: a few b*tch slaps to the face for being so out of touch with the way people of lesser means live, but the only prominent male in the actor's life, Sammy(Chris Pontius), is an enabler, a playmate for both Marco and his daughter Chloe(Elle Fanning), a girl too young to be the steadying influence that the overgrown child needs. That's what the new Arthur(Russell Brand) needs too, a father figure; a butler instead of a nanny, as suggested by the movie itself in the opening scene where the much taller(and less lovable) layabout rams his Batmobile into an anatomically correct bull statue. Considering that the new "Arthur" places the well-heeled millionaire into a personal world dominated by strong women, a pointed juxtaposition presents itself through Arthur's close proximity to the bull's gigantic golden testicles. It's an insinuation of a man, a mama's boy who's been emasculated by the fairer sex. Recast as a woman, Hobson(Helen Mirren) treats Arthur as if he was still a boy, reading to him a children's book about a frog and a toad before he's put asleep. The butler, on the other hand, may tend to his employer's needs, but he does so with a sense of irony, by never coddling Arthur to such an unhealthy extent. Following his master's request that he should draw him a bubble bath, Gielgud sarcastically quips, "Perhaps you'd like me to come in there and wash your d*ck for you," and in the waiting room of his father's workplace, Gielgud's Hobson makes a dry joke about going for ice cream, as a response to Arthur's insistence on acting like a petulant child. In the presence of his father, Stanford Bach, Arthur learns the bargaining terms associated with his upcoming engagement to Susan Johnson(Jill Eikenberg). Marry the woman, or lose seven hundred fifty million dollars. In the remake, the conditions are the same, but not the sex of the blackmailer. Ms. Bach, working in concert with a completely revamped Susan(no longer the doormat who loves Arthur unconditionally in the original), lays the law down to her son, in which his fiancee, Vivienne's top lieutenant in the family company, views marriage as a business partnership. Susan is ashamed of the stigma tied to "new money", therefore undermining her blue collar father's pride in being a self-made man. She wants the Bach name. Susan doesn't love Arthur. And yet, the unlicensed tour guide hardly seems the right fit for the playboy either. Of all things, she tells bedtime stories. He already has Hobson for that. Earlier in this new "Arthur", echoing the scene where Gielgud slaps around Moore on the race track, Mirren knocks out Brand with a swift right while former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield looks on. Since Hobson had breastfed Arthur well-past an age which society would deem acceptable, she should tell him that the punch is a pointed one, a wake-up call to finally grow up. Unlike the butler, the nanny doesn't really prepare Arthur for adulthood. The man-child sees himself as Batman, but really, he's more the Robin-type, the sidekick. He's Batman by default, since the chauffeur, another enabler, seems to be his only male friend. In the original "Arthur", Hobson is clearly the Caped Crusader to the titular character's boy in "short pants". Sometimes a woman can't do a man's job.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

sdwillie

May 12, 2011

Watching the original a while ago I wondered why anyone would remake that movie. Now I want to shout out a huge thank you to Russell Brand for the remake because I thought the only thing in the original worth watching was John Gielgud, but now I realize that it also has the benefit of notWatching the original a while ago I wondered why anyone would remake that movie. Now I want to shout out a huge thank you to Russell Brand for the remake because I thought the only thing in the original worth watching was John Gielgud, but now I realize that it also has the benefit of not including Russell Brand. I was just about to give this piece of garbage a 3 because of Helen Mirren, but seeing that some foop going by ferg0 gave it a 10 to raise the score, I have to drop my 3 to a 0 to correct her attempt to skew things.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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