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The Bang Bang Club Fandango Russell Brand in "Arthur." The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Search movie I Am showtimes and buy Water for Elephants tickets. Arthur more current releases » BY ROGER EBERT / April 6, 2011 about us one-minute movie reviews "Arthur” is a fairly close About the site » remake of the great 1981 still playing Dudley Moore movie, with cast & credits Site FAQs » pleasures of its own. It The Adjustment Bureau Arthur Russell Brand shares some of the same Arthur Contact us » strengths and virtues, and if Hobson Helen Mirren Atlas Shrugged it lacks Dudley Moore as Naomi Greta Gerwig The Bang Bang Club Email the Movie Arthur and John Gielgud Susan Jennifer Garner Battle: Los Angeles Answer Man » playing his butler Hobson, Vivienne Geraldine James Cedar Rapids well, it has Russell Brand Certifiably Jonathan and Helen Mirren playing Warner Bros. presents a film Certified Copy on sale now Cold Weather his nanny Hobson. That's directed by Jason Winer. not a tradeoff, but it's a The Conspirator Screenplay by Peter Baynham, good try. Desert Flower based on the film written and Drive Angry 3D The thing about Moore, directed by Steve Gordon. Running The Eagle who people persisted in time: 110 minutes. MPAA rating: Even the Rain calling “Cuddly Dudley” PG-13 for alcohol use throughout, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Hall Pass although he hated it, is that sexual content, language and some Hanna he was just plain lovable. drug references. Hidden Love The thing about Russell The Housemaid Buy now » Brand is that he isn't, not Printer-friendly » I Am much, and he should get E-mail this to a friend » I Am Number Four credit here for at least I Will Follow being a good deal more In a Better World likable than he usually Insidious chooses to seem. He plays Inspector Bellamy the alcoholic zillionaire Arthur Bach as a man who wants to party Ip Man 2 with the world and pick up the check. Jane Eyre Just Go With It Helen Mirren has the presence and authority of John Gielgud, but Kaboom Limitless Buy now » not the same aloof dignity. Gielgud's Hobson was a man so The Lincoln Lawyer reserved, you sometimes wanted to knock and see if anyone Louder Than a Bomb answered. Then again, they've made Hobson into a nanny still loyal Loveless from Arthur's childhood, so she should be expected to love him in a Of Gods and Men more tender way. Outside the Law Paul The main plot beats are roughly the same: Arthur is drunk more or Poetry less all the time, and steadfast in his irresponsibility. He inadvertently Potiche falls in love with a sweet young woman named Naomi (Greta Putty Hill Rango Buy now » Gerwig), just as his controlling mother Vivienne (Geraldine James) is arranging his marriage with a very rich woman named Susan Red Riding Hood (Jennifer Garner). Susan wants him for his name; she may be rich, Sanctum but she's not welcomed into the upper crust because her daddy (Nick Scre4m Soul Surfer Nolte) worked his way up in construction. Source Code Strongman Naomi cares little about Super such matters and supports Take Me Home Tonight herself as an unlicensed Trust guide giving bootleg tours of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Buy now » Grand Central Station. She's Unknown remarkably forgiving of Vidal Sassoon: The Movie Arthur's irregularities, Waste Land considering he has the self- Water for Elephants discipline and tact of a Win Win Charlie Sheen. But then Your Highness neither “Arthur” deals with more current releases » alcoholism as other than a colorful character trait. No (Enlarge Image) Buy now » one could drink like Arthur on dvd and not be dead at the end of 24 hours. new on dvd The casting of Greta Gerwig works nicely. Did you see her as the assistant to Ben Stiller's brother in "Greenberg" (2010)? The thing Blow Out (4/26) about her is that she is indeed Cuddly. We sometimes talk about Somewhere (4/19) personal chemistry as something that happens in casting. It probably White Material (4/12) begins at birth. She's a woman you instinctively feel good about, like Ricky (4/12) Amy Adams in "Junebug." This quality goes a long way toward filling The Human Stain (4/12) in the psychological gaps in her relationship with Arthur. Nice people Dead Man (4/12) Buy now » can get away with more and take bigger chances. Tron: Legacy (4/5) Tron (4/5) Russell Brand isn't doing a Dudley Moore imitation, but you can tell Jersey Girl (4/5) he's studied the movie, and carefully resists any temptation to go I Love You Phillip Morris (4/5) over the top; it's just as well, since the whole role resides over the more new on dvd » top. I confess I haven't regarded him as a particularly subtle actor, but here he has a lot of smile moments when he quickly and quietly coming on dvd reacts. Ip Man 2 (5/3) Buy now» I'll mention an almost invisible one. In the scene in the library at the True Grit (6/7) end, when the kiddies are saying rude things, note how he hushes and dismisses them without much seeming to even notice them. more coming on dvd » That's good acting. Bad acting would be to respond directly, and great movies on dvd lose the focus of the scene, which must be on the woman he loves.

This “Arthur” is not as laugh-out-loud funny as the earlier one, its Shoah (12/29) scene of a dinner in a staid hotel dining room isn't as successful, and Santa Sangre (1/25) it doesn't have as much fun with the father of the Naomi character. Senso (2/22) But the dialogue is well-written — witty and quick and not clunky. Heart of Glass (3/23) Buy now» The visuals in the Grand Central Station scene may be overdone, but more great movies on dvd » they are impressive. (When did architecture lose its faith in grandeur?) And Russell Brand takes on a thankless task and earns at least some thanks.

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