Arthur

A zillionaire playboy drunk (Russell Brand) resists an arranged marriage to an executive in his mother’s company (Jennifer Garner) because he’s fallen in love with a working-class nobody (Greta Gerwig). Writer Peter Baynham and director Jason Winer maul the late Steve Gordon’s 1981 classic with no understanding of what made it sweet and touching—or even what made it funny. Brand shows some of original star Dudley Moore’s comic chops but little of his honest pathos; meanwhile, Gerwig suffers from her role being slashed to the bone to build up a comic star turn for Garner. As Brand’s faithful servant, Helen Mirren’s role (which won John Gielgud a richly deserved Oscar) is similarly marginalized. Without the help of Gordon’s sparkling dialogue she can’t shine as Gielgud did; she’s only slumming.