Netflix says: Recasting the 1981 comedy classic starring Dudley Moore, this romantic chuckler chronicles the dilemma faced by philanderer Arthur Bach (Russell Brand) -- whether to give up a respectable life and an inheritance of millions for the sake of romance. Jennifer Garner co-stars as Susan Johnson, the gorgeous socialite that Arthur's family has chosen for him. Greta Gerwig plays Naomi, the girl who steals Arthur's heart in the meantime.
Matt says: Russell Brand is a lot like Dudley Moore: they both have reached enough comedic fame in the UK to garner attention in the US, but never can really find their ground here. Each had that one rated R film early in their US career that had enough nudity and drug references to make it edgy and fun, but then was followed by a mediocre version of “Arthur”. At least Moore really hammed up the alcoholism in his version. He slurred his words with aplomb and that cackling laugh was infectious. In Brand’s “Arthur”, the alcoholism is more depressing to witness because he plays it as: a problem that only hurts him... not very comedic sounding, is it? Maybe this is due to cleaning up in real life before filming this, or because Hollywood wanted to send a message to the kiddies, but it wasn’t even necessary to having him even behave drunk in this version except that it was done in Moore’s film. It’s a shame, because I loved Brand’s alcohol and drug fueled adventured in “Get Him To The Greek” and expected this to be a semi-sequel. Instead, you feel guilty laughing at his exploits and some very talented people are wasted (Mirren especially). This is bound to become one of those films endlessly rerun on Comedy Central at 4pm on Saturdays. That’s not a good thing. 2 stars.
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