A remake of the classic Dudley Moore vehicle, Arthur recasts Russell Brand as the titular alcoholic in a funny and oddly touching film that manages to transcend the stigma of the remake and earn its place as a legitimately good film.

I haven’t seen the original Arthur since I was a kid. I remember liking it at the time which had a lot to do with being a fan of Dudley Moore but as far as any detail other than Arthur being a lovable alcoholic, I am sadly blank. So I am not going to try to compare the two films and I am not going to say that one is better than the other. From this moment on, I am not going to acknowledge the original as I feel the remake stands on its own as its own film and frankly I am not qualified to compare fuzzy as my memory of the original is. So with that being said, I really dig this new Arthur.

Arthur Bach is the sole heir to a massive company and subsequent 900 million dollar fortune who basically has no direction of any kind and fills his days drinking, playing, partying and whoring. His primary hobby seems to be embarrassing his mother but that is just a secondary consequence of his feckless debauchery. In a last ditch effort to stop the hemorrhaging of investors who are fleeing what they see as a sinking ship with a buffoon stepping up to work the rudder, Arthur’s mother(Geraldine James) hatches a plot with her underling  Susan (Jennifer Garner) wherein Susan, who happens to be an ex-girlfriend of Arthur, will marry him and run the company while he does god knows what far from the public eye. This is not something Arthur is keen to agree to as he doesn’t care for Susan and he doesn’t feel he should be that much under the control of his mother but the impending loss of 900 million dollars is a bit much for him to bear. When he meets Naomi (Greta Gerwig) and instantly falls in love, things get that much more complicated.

Arthur is a very funny movie, particularly if you are into Russell Brand’s, er, brand of humor. It isn’t just a lot of drunken antics, although those are plenty amusing, it is mostly made up of Brand’s particular style of dialogue and delivery. I have no idea what the ratio of written dialogue to improve there was but the lines sounded very much like Brand’s stand up and that is a good thing. This made the character less of a drunken idiot and more of a drunken sophisticate who is drinking away the sum total of his potential while society at large writes him off.

This isn’t really unique from a story perspective. There are dozens of stories about messed up whackadoos who are smarter than they are letting on and just need a reason to care to pull it all together and show the world how smart and competent they really are. Arthur doesn’t contribute any significant new beats to this formula at all really but the over all quality of the film’s execution makes up for whatever innovation the movie passes on.

The writing is funny and clever and Brand’s delivery is spot on but the real strength of the movie lies with Arthur’s relationship with his lifelong Nanny Hobson (Helen Mirren). This relationship is the backbone of the film and provides the best moments throughout. The chemistry between Brand and Mirren is perfect and it is difficult not to be caught up in it. There is a lot of heart here without over sentimentality and without getting too mushy. The two are affectionately antagonistic with each other and you can feel the love they have for each other in a very real way. I don’t want to belabor the point but even if the rest of the movie weren’t interesting and weren’t funny it would still be worth watching for these interactions and this relationship.

The way the film handles Arthur’s alcoholism is another strong point. The trailers pretty much ignore the alcohol completely and I was kind of concerned it would be downplayed in the film but it definitely was not. Arthur is a raging alcoholic who drinks pretty much constantly and while he does funny and silly things while drunk, the film takes this issue fairly seriously. There are consequences to Arthur’s addiction and they are handled in a way that neither dismisses them nor gets overly preachy about them. This is refreshing as alcoholism in movies tends to be dealt with with a heavy hand but here it is dealt with in a way that seems fairly real and true to life. Given the ridiculous things that happen in the film that is kind of an impressive feat.

Conclusion [8.5 out of 10]

Arthur isn’t a masterpiece nor is it the best comedy of the year but it is very funny and has a fair amount of unexpected depth. Those who don’t care for Brand will have little to like but in general the movie is very successful and was much, much better than I had expected. With strong writing and strong performances there is very little else to ask for.