Big Screen Blurb: Arthur

Living the life of Riley...well, make that the life of Arthur. It's a life full of booze, broads and Batman. I'm not really sure how much of this was fiction and how much was actually based on Russell Brands' life. The reality part probably cut out around the time he donned the Batman suit (ya know...the whacked one that Val Kilmer wore with the nipples) and drove the Batmobile around NYC. Actually, I think it would have been better to watch Adam West bouncing around Gotham for two hours.

Arthur (Russell Brand) really never grew up. He was really never asked to...at least not until his shenanigans started painting his Mum's company in a sour light. Arthur would drink...hook-up with a few nameless, semi-faceless and completely bra-less chicks...he'd drink some more before flying around the city in either Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine or Magnum PI's Ferrari, or yes, the Batmobile...drink some more...do some drugs...day turns into night turns into day. You gettin' the picture yet? He's a drunken, self-centered brat who has lived on someone else's millions for far too long. Now, he's being asked to grow up. To help rush this process along, it's been arranged that Arthur marry Susan (Jennifer Garner). She's a solid, strong business woman who will bring character and confidence back to the company that Arthur stands to inherit. Mum's appeased. Susan is all for it. Shareholders will be happy. Everyone wins, right? Well, Arthur thinks not. He's fallen in love with a quirky tour guide, Naomi (Greta Gerwig). She's just odd enough to keep Arthur's attention. Arthur falls in love and yadayadayada we witness his descent into attempted adulthood.

I had no real expectations heading into this flick. Actually, I was too wee of a lad to have seen the original Arthur (Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli) so I had no frame of reference. I knew it was about a rich brat and starred Russell Brand, who I loved in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek; and had Helen Mirren (who I love in about anything) as the loving, but frustrated nanny. Actually, Mirren was the only real saving grace in this 2.0 Star effort. Sure, it had it's moments. It even had a couple of laugh out loud moments. Ultimately however, it just wears on you--check that...it grates on you. Of course, Brand was perfectly cast because in many ways he relates quite well to that lifestyle. When he's asked to play a role that fits his own reality, he's great--of course, that's not really acting though is it? He just couldn't save it and neither could Mirren, who was solid as the nanny. Yes, finally Arthur grows up...bit by bit...and realizes that high love is better than high life. So, yes, we get to where you expect to be taken, it just took awhile to get there and with a plot that just had far too many flat points to keep the funny alive.

Honestly, I wouldn't even rent this one. It was good for a night out, but I think our time would have been better spent just hangin' out somewhere than drudging through the less-than-laugh-a-minute Arthur.

True...OUT!