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| Willy Wonka's party days |
There are moments of genuine comedic genius in this updated remix of 1981's Arthur, starring Dudley Moore, Liza Minelli, and John Gielgud. Here, Russell Brand portrays our titular loafer in wildly expensive loafers, while Helen Mirren takes Gielgud's spot as his live-in nanny Hobson. Greta Gerwig, affable and luminous as ever, takes over for Liza Minelli as Arthur's love interest/savior. He drinks more than anyone should, to a debilitating degree, and every time he steps out of his house, it's a party. Drinks are on him, of course. Most remakes today have nothing to offer audiences, and do nothing to improve upon or rethink the original films. Admittedly, this version of the popular Moore film (for which he was Oscar nominated, and Gielgud won) doesn't do much to rethink the original, but... the improvement is there. In the 81 film, Arthur's alcoholism isn't treated with the same touch (it's merely a plot point, it feels) and Brand's performance here has more heart than most things Dudley Moore did. Both are fine films, and this one certainly won't see the Oscars, but that doesn't stop it from being a warm, and abstractly hilarious afternoon at the movies.
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