When I went to see Arthur with a friend, I fully expected Russell Brand’s performance and character to be exactly the same as it has been in every other movie he’s starred in. I mean, lets face it. Russell’s main strong-point as an actor is his ability to out-perform everyone else in the role of the ditzy/drunk/druggy/fanciful playboy stock character. In this respect, he met my expectations by stepping into the role of yet another clueless and offensive Richy Rich. Take it from me, there is virtually no character diversity or distinction between his role as Arthur and his former role as rock-star Aldous Snow. However, don’t go thinking I’m against this. As in previous films, Russell also shows off his enormous talent for knocking an audience to the floor with laughter. I’ll say this: the main character roles in this movie were cast perfectly. There’s a huge amount of on-screen chemistry between Russell and his accompanying actresses, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, and especially Greta Gerwig. The moment she first showed up on-screen, she and Russell completely took the spotlight. Honestly though, one of the main reasons I loved this movie was because Russell did such a phenomenal job of transforming from a blasé comedian into a more serious and relatable character. I didn’t see it coming at all, but it totally pulled me into the story. In that respect, I would judge this to be Brand’s best performance so far. He stole the show and turned Arthur into a movie I wouldn’t mind going back to see a few more times.
All in all, Arthur took me by surprise. It had a strong plot, was cleverly written, and though spiced up with Russell’s particular flavor of humor still stayed true to its basic premise. I would rate it as an 8.5/10
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