Arthur
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: April 8, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
21
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertApr 7, 2011
A fairly close remake of the great 1981 Dudley Moore movie, with pleasures of its own. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnApr 11, 2011
Easy on the eyes, intermittently amusing and never downright awful. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 7, 2011
Are the results funny? In the margins, yes. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandApr 7, 2011
When remaking a popular film, you must remember this: First, do no harm to the original. Arthur accomplishes this, with Russell Brand slurring his way neatly through the title role. Read full review
60
EmpireJames WhiteApr 21, 2011
Brand fan? You'll likely enjoy his antics. But Russellophobics would be better off seeking out the original. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 7, 2011
Brand ultimately can't make a watered-down Arthur as sweetly charming as the original, but he certainly makes it better than it would have been otherwise. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanApr 7, 2011
The new Arthur is a feathery screwball satire, competent on its own terms, yet as the movie went on I found it increasingly hard to separate the character's self-indulgence from that of the actor playing him. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 11, 2011
It's amazing how a lifeless, pointless remake can provoke pangs of nostalgia about a mediocre movie. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsApr 8, 2011
With such a thin excuse for a leading man, Arthur is a dud. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirApr 7, 2011
Misfires on multiple levels but isn't all that terrible. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellApr 7, 2011
That cast is precisely what makes the new Arthur so frustrating. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 7, 2011
The movie lacks joy. It has poignancy and intelligence, and it holds interest, but it never opens up into happiness and fantasy. Maybe it's the recession. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottApr 7, 2011
The star does his patented shtick, supported by a handful of blue-chip supporting performers, as the story lurches through contrived, seminaughty comic set pieces toward a sentimental ending. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigApr 7, 2011
Despite his cockney-accented verbosity, Brand does not convey the effortless conviviality that Dudley Moore did in the part. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisApr 7, 2011
The new remake of Arthur is a thin copy of the 1981 original. But it has a few things going for it. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsApr 7, 2011
Russell Brand steps into the role of Arthur Bach for the 2011 remake, and while it's one of the more reined-in performances of his short, busy big-screen career, Brand's unvarying onscreen persona just doesn't do soulful. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyKarina LongworthApr 6, 2011
This remake seems to exist only to zap the original of its minor pleasures. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 6, 2011
Brand is amusing, in a nutty "Get Him to the Greek" sort of way, while Moore delivered one of the funniest performances ever. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 8, 2011
It seems a bit cruel to cast Garner, who exudes charm, in such a charmless role. Read full review
40
SlateDana StevensApr 7, 2011
If you get caught between the moon and New York City--or even just between two movies at the multiplex--the best that you can do is skip this one. Read full review
40
MovielineStephanie ZacharekApr 7, 2011
Step over to the liquor cabinet and mix yourself a good, stiff drink - if you plan on seeing this godforsaken thing, you'll need it. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesApr 7, 2011
Three decades of skyrocketing income inequality have soured the comedy of Arthur's astronomically expensive self-indulgences. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondApr 6, 2011
This Arthur feels flat and lifeless, especially when compared to its highly successful predecessor. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfApr 6, 2011
The original film, for all its zaniness, existed in a recognizable Koch-era metropolis, one that paradoxically added to our hero's likable haze of denial. This time, the town is far shinier (what recession?). Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangApr 5, 2011
Even the Brit-wit chemistry of Russell Brand and Helen Mirren can't offset the self-conscious degree to which this tame, calculated effort sticks to its source. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithApr 8, 2011
Attempting to fill Dudley Moore's top hat in Arthur, Russell Brand rapidly descends the rungs of the comedy ladder from "unfunny" to "irritating" to "vulgar" to the bottom one - "Andy Dick." Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenApr 7, 2011
Apparently, somebody thought it was time for a remake. Clearly, somebody was dead wrong. Read full review
38
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreApr 7, 2011
This Arthur is on the rocks long before Last Call. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyApr 7, 2011
Meanwhile, Mirren, that grande dame of cinema, just seems tired. And who could blame her? She's in the midst of this disaster, literally and figuratively dying right in front of us. Made me want to cry, just not for Arthur. Read full review
30
NPRScott TobiasApr 7, 2011
This Arthur cravenly turns Susan into a monstrous status-seeker, making her less of a human being and thus much easier for Arthur to trample over in securing a meaningful adult relationship. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenApr 7, 2011
Arthur overextends its welcome and relies too much on prop comedy. Read full review
25
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 7, 2011
This Arthur is an exercise in time-travel tedium, a trip to the Land That Funny Forgot. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 7, 2011
Gordon, who died shortly after the first Arthur, never had to see the luckless 1988 sequel that made his beloved characters seem like strangers. The new Arthur, insipid when it should be infectious, leaves the same deadly impression. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierApr 8, 2011
This Arthur is missing a soul. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttApr 5, 2011
In the end, it isn't so much that the New Arthur isn't the Old Arthur. Rather it's the anti-Arthur. Read full review
10
The New YorkerDavid DenbyApr 22, 2011
Has so many things wrong with it that one can only stare at the screen in disbelief. [25 April, 2011 p. 89]
0
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 11, 2011
In Arthur, the spectacularly grating remake of Steve Gordon's 1981 P. G. Wodehouse simulation (this time, Peter Baynham miswrote, Jason Winer misdirected), Russell Brand gives a career-killing performance. Read full review
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