# Arthur, movie. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619 "2012-04-13T00:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/21 "2012-04-13T23:49:55Z")
Arthur was FANTASTIC. Minnelli did a great job. Loved it. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/22 "2012-04-14T23:46:02Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > My recollection is that the original \*\*\*Arthur \*\*\*was fairly amusing and Dudley Moore was charming and ikable (something I’ve never heard anyone say about Russell Brand). I’ll say it. I don’t pay any attention to celebrity culture, so my only exposure to Brand has been from the movies he has been in, and I would describe his character in _Arthur_ as well as the one in _Forgetting Sarah Marshall_ as charming and likable. If his _Arthur_ hadn’t been a remake, it would have been much more favorably received by the critics. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/23 "2012-04-15T00:36:55Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I never saw the remake, and I haven’t seen the original with Dudley Moore in at least 25 years. > > My recollection is that the original \*\*\*Arthur \*\*\*was fairly amusing and Dudley Moore was charming and ikable (something I’ve never heard anyone say about Russell Brand). Russell Brand is charming and likable in the roles I’ve seen him in. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/24 "2012-04-15T00:49:28Z")
To me, it wasn’t Russell Brand that sank the remake as much as the lack of Gielgud:Moore chemistry between him and Helen Mirren. And I really don’t hold either actor responsible for that- they probably did as much as they could- but Hobson:Arthur is a _ **vital** _ part of the original’s success, and Hobson doesn’t work as a female character. Plus, the original had a bit more freedom. Arthur drove drunk in a scene that was not only meant to be comedic but was, in fact, funny as hell (the “Perry’s wife” scene). I’m sure it raised some outrage then, but can you even imagine if somebody tried to have 1- a main character 2- who is supposed to be likeable 3- even though he is a super rich playboy 4- driving so drunk he can’t park and falls out of the car 5- with no PSA or bad consequences 6- totally for laughs today? Anderson Cooper would be interviewing the parents, widows, and orphans of drunk driving victims at its premiere. (And I’m not even saying that “funny drunk driving” ISN’T a bad idea for a movie, but, in the first ARTHUR, it worked, and you can’t do it again any more than you could do a sympathetic romantic male lead publicly spanking a woman (ala John Wayne-Maureen O’Hara in… well, a couple of movies actually) or kicking a kid or doing black face or putting in a set of dentures and playing an Asian stereotype- just isn’t going to work. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/25 "2012-04-15T01:15:19Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > so I never saw it twice. This really is NOT a movie to watch twice. It is a movie to watch a thousand times and commit to memory!!! ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/26 "2012-04-15T16:00:26Z")
Where’s my hat? I _hate_ it when that happens! ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/27 "2012-04-15T16:08:37Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > This really is NOT a movie to watch twice. > > It is a movie to watch a thousand times and commit to memory!!! But when you say you want her…you want _her_!.._don’t make a scene!_ ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/28 "2012-04-15T16:35:25Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > “Where’s the rest of this moose?” “You must have _hated_ this moose.” ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/29 "2012-04-16T17:31:21Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > “You must have _hated_ this moose.” “This is a tough room.” “But I guess I don’t have to tell you that.” ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/30 "2012-04-16T17:56:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > To me, it wasn’t Russell Brand that sank the remake as much as the lack of Gielgud:Moore chemistry between him and Helen Mirren. And I really don’t hold either actor responsible for that- they probably did as much as they could- but Hobson:Arthur is a _ **vital** _ part of the original’s success, and Hobson doesn’t work as a female character. > Plus, the original had a bit more freedom. Arthur drove drunk in a scene that was not only meant to be comedic but was, in fact, funny as hell (the “Perry’s wife” scene). I’m sure it raised some outrage then, but can you even imagine if somebody tried to have > 1- a main character > 2- who is supposed to be likeable > 3- even though he is a super rich playboy > 4- driving so drunk he can’t park and falls out of the car > 5- with no PSA or bad consequences > 6- totally for laughs > today? Anderson Cooper would be interviewing the parents, widows, and orphans of drunk driving victims at its premiere. (And I’m not even saying that “funny drunk driving” ISN’T a bad idea for a movie, but, in the first ARTHUR, it worked, and you can’t do it again any more than you could do a sympathetic romantic male lead publicly spanking a woman (ala John Wayne-Maureen O’Hara in… well, a couple of movies actually) or kicking a kid or doing black face or putting in a set of dentures and playing an Asian stereotype- just isn’t going to work. Have you ever seen Absolutely Fabulous? Similar in every single way and not that old. They never could get out of their car without falling out. Patsy even fell in an open grave once. I loved the movie. And as I recall, in the sequel, Minnelli (whom I enjoyed) forces him to stop drinking. "I’ve taken the liberty of anticipating your condition. I have brought you orange juice, coffee, and aspirins. Or do you need to throw up? " ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/31 "2012-04-16T19:28:08Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Have you ever seen Absolutely Fabulous? Similar in every single way and not that old. They never could get out of their car without falling out. Patsy even fell in an open grave once. It’s British, though. Roseanne Barr actually owned the rights to a sanctioned official U.S. AbFab for years and one reason it never went into production was the trouble she had with censors before it was even past the pilot stage (I don’t think the pilot was ever filmed). There have been several attempts to do an American show obviously inspired by AbFab (_Cybill_ and [High Society](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112002/) come to mind) that have cut out the D.U.I. stuff. (They also cut out most of the illegal stuff; pot and comedic prescription pill abuse are about as far as you can go on a U.S. sitcom with regards to illegal drug use/abuse; Charlie Harper from _Two and a Half Men_ was clearly a coke and ecstacy user but it was all safely offstage and not like AbFab where they bring back a pound of cocaine from Morocco.) ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/32 "2012-04-17T03:33:45Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > “You must have _hated_ this moose.” Why don’t you FORGET about the MOOSE! ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/33 "2012-04-17T03:54:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But… where the movie fell apart for me was that we in the audience were EXPECTED to believe that Arthur’s wealthy fiancee (Jill Eikenberry) was a dreary witch, and that he’d be infinitely happier with the shoplifting waitress played by Liza Minelli. > > Huh? He didn’t love her. It was as simple as that. They were pushed together by their families for business purposes, then put into a position where he had to propose for the sake of propriety (if he even did, and it wasn’t just announced on their behalf) and all of their echelon of society would’ve been scandalized if the wedding didn’t happen. And while he didn’t love her, she didn’t seem to love him either, as much as she loved the idea of being married, being married to a man as rich as Arthur was going to be, and having a “project” in “fixing” him. She was fairly cold and calculating about things, especially by the end. > [@](#): > > Sorry, but I didn’t buy that, nor would any hetero male. Arthur’s fiancee was preferable in EVERY imaginable way to Liza Minelli. Richer, better looking, nicer, not a felon… sorry, I don’t see any sane reason he’d cast her aside for Liza. Liza’s character was a petty shoplifter because she was poor, not a felon. And the rest is subjective. And all by the wayside when we remember the most important thing: he didn’t love Jill. He loved Liza, maybe at first because he wasn’t meant to, but personality wise, they were a much, much better match. Maybe because neither of them were emotionally superficial and shallow, which Jill was, in spades. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/34 "2012-04-17T04:51:41Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I never saw the remake, and I haven’t seen the original with Dudley Moore in at least 25 years. > > My recollection is that the original \*\*\*Arthur \*\*\*was fairly amusing and Dudley Moore was charming and ikable (something I’ve never heard anyone say about Russell Brand). > > But… where the movie fell apart for me was that we in the audience were EXPECTED to believe that Arthur’s wealthy fiancee (Jill Eikenberry) was a dreary witch, and that he’d be infinitely happier with the shoplifting waitress played by Liza Minelli. > > Huh? > > Sorry, but I didn’t buy that, nor would any hetero male. Arthur’s fiancee was preferable in EVERY imaginable way to Liza Minelli. Richer, better looking, nicer, not a felon… sorry, I don’t see any sane reason he’d cast her aside for Liza. Are you sure you want to be a nightclub comic? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/35 "2012-04-17T05:27:27Z")
“So you had six relatively good years…”. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/36 "2012-04-17T05:35:28Z")
We understand that it’s _small_, Arthur. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/37 "2012-04-17T13:21:17Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > He didn’t love her. It was as simple as that. They were pushed together by their families for business purposes, then put into a position where he had to propose for the sake of propriety (if he even did, and it wasn’t just announced on their behalf) and all of their echelon of society would’ve been scandalized if the wedding didn’t happen. > > And while he didn’t love her, she didn’t seem to love him either, as much as she loved the idea of being married, being married to a man as rich as Arthur was going to be, and having a “project” in “fixing” him. She was fairly cold and calculating about things, especially by the end. > > Liza’s character was a petty shoplifter because she was poor, not a felon. And the rest is subjective. And all by the wayside when we remember the most important thing: he didn’t love Jill. He loved Liza, maybe at first because he wasn’t meant to, but personality wise, they were a much, much better match. Maybe because neither of them were emotionally superficial and shallow, which Jill was, in spades. Yeah, all that may be true, but at the end of the day it’s still _Liza Minelli_. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/38 "2012-04-17T16:27:29Z")
Don’t screw with us, Arthur. You’re too old to be poor. You don’t know how. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/39 "2012-04-17T19:56:55Z")
The sequel to the original was nowhere near as good, BUT it definitely had some funny moments. One is when Linda and Arthur are meeting with their adoption agent (a pre-famous Kathy Bates) who asks about Arthur’s drinking. Linda assures him Arthur is working on it. ARTHUR: Last year I joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Bates: That is a good step. How many meetings do you go to in a month? ARTHUR: There are meetings? Though John Gielgud’s cameo is of course the best part. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619/40 "2012-04-17T20:22:45Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Yeah, all that may be true, but at the end of the day it’s still _Liza Minelli_. Ugh. Concur. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-movie/618619.md?page=3)