Movie Review Arthur

Arthur (2011) 

Directed by Jason Winer

Written by Peter Baynham 

Starring Russell Brand, Jennifer Garner, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Nick Nolte 

Release Date April 8th, 2011 

Published April 8th, 2011 

There was no urgent need to remake the 1981 comedy classic "Arthur." The legendary Dudley Moore had brought to the role of millionaire alcoholic Arthur Bach all of the assets that could be brought to it. While, the original did suffer a bit for the abominable sequel "Arthur 2: On the Rocks" that alone doesn't justify attempting a new spin on the original.

Nevertheless, we have an "Arthur" remake in theaters and starring comedian turned actor Russell Brand as the alcoholic, man-child, millionaire Arthur Bach. Brand is well suited for the role being both English, as Dudley Moore was, and having a history of alcohol abuse on which to draw a great deal of inspiration. That doesn't justify the remake but Brand does make it all quite pleasant.

Russell Brand is 'Arthur'

Arthur Bach (Russell Brand) is undoubtedly an overgrown child. When we meet Arthur for the first time he is dressed as Batman and planning to attend a black tie function being put on by his mother, Vivian (Geraldine James), arriving in the Batmobile alongside his driver and friend Bitterman (Luis Guzman), dressed as the Boy Wonder.

If you find this scenario charming then you are just the audience for "Arthur" a comedy that will repeatedly reinforce Russell Brand's man-child qualities through nerd culture signifiers. Later we will see what Arthur says is the original Darth Vader helmet among other pop culture ephemera that Brand's multi-millionaire character obtains throughout the film in order to remind fans of better movies, earning the good feelings by proxy.

A marriage of convenience

Arthur may be 30 years old but he is still cared for by his childhood nanny Hobson (Dame Helen Mirren), something he justifies by referring to her as his best friend. Hobson is supportive but mostly disdainful of Arthur's wasted life of whores and copious amounts of alcohol. Hobson is, for a short time, surprisingly in favor of seeing Arthur marry Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner), a marriage Arthur sorely hopes to avoid.

Arthur has been instructed to marry Susan by his mother or he will be cut off from the family fortune. Susan's father (Nick Nolte) threatens to cut off something else entirely should Arthur not go through with the marriage. Arthur seems headed down the aisle until he meets Naomi (Greta Gerwig) an unlicensed tour guide and aspiring children's book author. They fall for each other immediately but will Arthur give up his fortune for love?

Charming, sarcastic and sugary sweet

Russell Brand charms his way through much of "Arthur" with well timed quips and lighthearted insults. It's a fun and funny performance well matched with Dame Helen Mirren's sturdy and often wearyingly sarcastic Hobson and Greta Gerwig's sugar sweet Naomi. But, these fabulously pleasant performances don't excuse "Arthur's" lack of necessity.

There simply remains no reason to have done a remake of "Arthur." I like Russell Brand and the rest of the cast but each could be doing something more original and constructive instead of going through the motions of someone else's comedy legend. Director Jason Winer and writer Peter Baynham offer too little that is new here and what little new there is doesn't make this "Arthur" relevant or unique.

Worth seeing for Russell Brand fans

If you have seen the trailers or commercials for "Arthur" and thought that you'd like to see it then I encourage you to go. You are likely a fan of Russell Brand and his work here is solid. If you are on the fence however, there is nothing in "Arthur" that screams must see.

Wait for the DVD and you will likely be just as satisfied. Or, you could rent the Dudley Moore original and be so delighted that you forget the remake entirely.

Movie Review Hop

Hop (2011) 

Directed by Tim Hill

Written by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch 

Starring Russell Brand, James Marsden, Hugh Laurie, Gary Cole, Kaley Cuoco, Elizabeth Perkins

Release Date April 1st, 2011

Published April 1st, 2011

"Hop" is yet another example of a movie that is more ideal than it is a story. The idea: What if the Easter Bunny ran away to Hollywood and met a struggling schlub who always wanted to be the Easter Bunny himself? Now, while that is a potentially funny and strange idea, the makers of "Hop" seem to have stopped at coming up with the premise.

Russell Brand as the Easter Bunny

"Hop" stars the voice of Russell Brand as E.B, a young rabbit destined to become the Easter Bunny. But, E.B he doesn't want to be the Easter Bunny. E.B's dad (voice of House star Hugh Laurie) is passing the job to him after years of being the Easter Bunny himself. E.B however, dreams of being a drummer in a band and with his dream in mind, he runs away to Hollywood.

Running parallel to E.B's story is that of Fred O'Hare (James Marsden) who is living with his parents (Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins) after being fired from his job. Fred has no direction or ambition until his sister (Big Bang Theory's Kaley Kuoco) gives him an opportunity to house sit at a glorious Hollywood mansion.

David Hasselhoff is not funny

That's when Fred meets E.B and, to no one's surprise, E.B begins shaking up Fred's life, causing trouble wherever the two of them go. Fred is a good sport however, and he does take E.B to an audition for a TV talent show hosted by the egregiously unfunny David Hasselhoff.

I will stop there with the 'plot' description as the rest is relatively predictable nonsense. "Hop" was directed by Tim Hill who brought the same eccentric chaos to the first "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie and the second 'Garfield' movie. To Mr. Hill's credit he has become very competent at incorporating animated characters and human characters.

Set ups, gags and no story

If only Mr. Hill had the same attention to story detail as he does to animated ones. Sadly, Mr. Hill, along with the several screenwriters on "Hop," neglected the story in favor of setting up and paying off gags that could be described as hit and miss if I wanted to be generous. There are far more misses than hits in the gags of "Hop."

The biggest problem with "Hop" is that it is a premise and not a movie. The creators of "Hop" invented an idea about the Easter Bunny in the real world and then invented some gags to play against that premise but nothing that ever coheres into a well told and meaningful story.

Why see Hop when you could see Rango

Kids might enjoy the colorful animation and I know a few adults who just like the sounds of Russell Brand and Hugh Laurie's accents, but these are not the kinds of pleasures that a critic can recommend you spend your hard earned money on. I especially cannot recommend a movie like "Hop" when "Rango" is in theaters. "Rango" is a movie that does more to earn the price of a ticket in the opening credits than "Hop" does in its entire 90 plus minute run time.

Movie Review Bedtime Stories

Bedtime Stories (2008) 

Directed by Adam Shankman

Written by Tim Herlihy, Matt Lopez

Starring Adam Sandler, Courtney Cox, Guy Pearce, Russell Brand, Jonathan Pryce

Release Date December 25th, 2008

Published Decemer 24th, 2008

Oh what a shock! Sean hates an Adam Sandler movie. Stop the presses. Well, now wait a second. I was developing a grudging affinity for the former SNL star. I liked Punch Drunk Love. I thought he was tremendous in the terribly flawed movie Reign Over Me. And, I even liked You Don't Mess With The Zohan for the sheer glee of its offensiveness.

I honestly thought that Sandler was maturing and recognizing that even the most outlandish story, such as Zohan, needed some dramatic parameters. I thought maybe that he was developing a knowledge of how to build believable characters and motivations. And I thought maybe his juvenilia was evolving a little.

Oh how wrong I was. Bedtime Stories is the lowest piece of garbage that Sandler has crafted since Billy Madison. Insulting, stupid, beyond juvenile, this alleged 'family' movie from Disney of all places, ranks among the lowest moments of Sandler's already low career.

Bedtime Stories stars Sandler as Skeeter, a hotel handyman who had grown up in the hotel business. His father played by Jonathan Pryce, who also narrates the movie, once owned the hotel and lived their with his son and his daughter played by Courtney Cox.

Dad passed away not long after he had sold the hotel to a hotelier played by Richard Griffiths. He turned the tiny hotel into a massive hotel palace and kept Skeeter on as a handyman for some 20 years. Now he is about to open a new hotel and Skeeter hopes to run it.

Meanwhile, Skeeter's sis has lost her job and must travel out of state for a job interview. She needs little brother to watch her two kids for a week despite his having not seen them in four years. Nevertheless, he accepts. Each night at bedtime they require a story and for some unknown reason portions of the stories come to life the following day.

The script for Bedtime Stories was apparently penned on the back of a cocktail napkin. It read "Children's Bedtime stories come to life starring Adam Sandler". The rest of the production involved hiring a cast and director who would simply make up everything else that happens.

Nevermind if any of it connects into some coherent story or if the characters motivation or even their dialogue makes a lick of sense, we've got Adam Sandler and a premise, that's all the filmmakers felt they needed. Oh, how wrong they were.

What the cast and director Adam Shankman invented around this premise was brutal, unending stupidity. True garbage. None of the characters make any sense. Plot strands arrive and then are shoved off screen maybe to be revisited later. Characters are introduced and quickly dispatched without making a lick of difference to the story.

I realize that I am not supposed to care whether Skeeter would be at all qualified to run a hotel, it's not necessary information, but as presented I would not allow Skeeter to run a gas pump. Kids will not care that they are being insulted by such plot insinuations but I was endlessly irritated with the lack of care that anyone from Sandler to the director to the producers took with this plot construction.

But again, this is a kids movie you say. Why does it matter. The kids will love the bright colors and the googly eyed, farting guinea pig. They'll eat it up. Well, I will tell you why it matters. Because kids should not eat this up. Kids should not be subjected to such shoddy work.

Director Shankman's work is sloppy at best and Sandler hasn't been this lazy on screen since Mr. Deeds. Kids deserve better. They may not know it but they deserve better than to simply have their senses tickled. They deserve better than bright colors and fart jokes from a slipshod director and lazy superstar who do their jobs on autopilot why? Because it's just a kiddie flick.

No, kids deserve better. Kids deserve movies that don't patronize and appeal to their lower minds. Kids deserve movies that challenge them to think and imagine. They need and I believe they crave movies that expand their minds and make them think of bigger and better things.

Movies like Wall-E and Horton Hears A Who and Kung Fu Panda have been released this year and each of these animated features have entertained kids and caused their imaginations and intellects to expand. Kids came out of those movies laughing and smiling and best of all dreaming.

Bedtime Stories may occasionally make them laugh or smile but it won't make them dream. It will stifle them. They may not know it or show it but they will feel short changed. They will instinctively know that their time and their imagination has been wasted and the long term effect will be for them to expect less of movies.

The long term effect will be felt when years later they expect nothing of the movies and of art but the base visceral need for a distraction from daily life and that is a sad end. I know you will say I am overreacting and that Bedtime Stories is a mere trifle of a movie that will be long forgotten by most in less than a week but I am telling you, your wrong.

Bedtime Stories is an affliction. It is a long term damaging of the psyche. A movie whose future effect will be to lower the standards of what children expect of art and what they think is expected of them as people. If you care so little what you use to stimulate your child they will come to expect less of their own stimulation.

Bedtime Stories is the worst movie of 2008.

Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008 

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Written by Jason Segal

Starring Jason Segal, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Jack McBrayer

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published April 17th, 2008

The golden touch of writer/director/producer Judd Apatow had become King Midas in reverse on his last two efforts. the brutal spoof Walk Hard and the forgettable Drillbit Taylor. Thankfully, the golden touch is back in the new romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Starring Apatow's long time friend, part of the apatow repertory players from TV and the movies, Jason Segal, Forgetting Sarah Marshall returns to the Apatow gang's comfort zone of awkward, R-Rated romance and mines it for humor of great discomfort, humanity, truth and penis jokes.

Peter Bretter (Segal) has been in love with Sarah Marshall for five years since they met on the set of her hit show Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime. Peter performs all of the music on the show. All seemed warm and cozy until Sarah decided to break up with him. Devastated, Peter drifts into a series of random sexual encounters before his brother Dave (Bill Hader) convinces him to get away for awhile.

Deciding on a Hawaiian getaway, Peter is stunned to find Sarah Marshall already on the island when he arrives and she's attached at the lips to her new rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). On the bright side, a beautiful young hotel worker named Rachel (Mila Kunis) takes pity on him and decides to help him get his mind off his ex.

Jason Segal not only stars here, he wrote the smart, offbeat screenplay for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the care he takes to avoid typical romantic comedy moments bring depth and brains to a film that could have been just another collection of broad gags. Segal crafts terrific characters, creates believable conflicts and wrings big laughs from moments that most anyone will be able to relate to.

Among the many things I loved about this terrific comedy romance is how director Nicholas Stoller and  Jason Segal balance Peter's flaws with Sarah's and avoids making her into a villain. The same can be said of Brand's airhead rocker who, though his quite shallow, proves to be something slightly more than just a walking gag.

Mila Kunis shines in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Bringing a dash of crazy, foul mouthed hussy to an idealized version of a dreamgirl, Kunis shows bravery and chops hanging with the Apatow crew's brand of sweet offensiveness. From her girl's gone wild moment to her foul mouthed tirades, she surprises at every turn, and proves to be more than the equal of her male counterparts.

On top of the strong central story Segal, director Nicolas Stoller and producer Apatow also find room for terrific supporting players like Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Jack McBrayer. Best of all however, in the briefest of roles, in William Baldwin. In a pitch perfect send up of David Caruso's CSI Miami cop, Baldwin is a hilarious scene stealer. Really, just about everything works in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you can get past multiple scenes of male nudity, you will have a great time with this terrific little movie.

Movie Review: Despicable Me

Despicable Me (2010) 

Directed by Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin

Written by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio 

Starring Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Jason Segal, 

Release Date July 9th, 2010 

Published July 8th, 2010 

Gru (Steve Carell), the star of “Despicable Me” is a super villain. We know this because he is dressed all in black. He has a bald head, pale skin and a villainous pointy nose. He carries a freeze ray which he uses to get to the head of the line at Starbucks and he's mean to children. If Gru were anymore the bad guy he would be petting a cat a la Blofeld and twisting his mustache.

When the Great Pyramid goes missing Gru's mother (Julie Andrews) calls to congratulate him and he is forced to reveal he wasn't the big bad guy who stole it. Turns out, there is a new Super villain on the scene and he is stealing Gru's headlines. Don't worry though, Gru has a plan to get his place on the front pages back, with the help of his evil assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) and his hundreds Banana Slug looking Minions, Gru plans to steal the Moon. All he needs are the funds.

In a scene that earns the biggest laughs in “Despicable Me,” Gru heads for the Bank of Evil to pitch his Moon stealing idea. Keep an eye out for one terrifically fun toss off sight gag at the Bank that is both timely and hilarious. To get his funds the bank needs Gru to first steal a top secret shrink ray that he can use to shrink the moon to carry on size.

Oh, but that new villain in town, he's on the trail of the shrink ray and the moon as well. His name is Vector (Jason Segal), really Victor, but he thinks Vector is much more evil and when he gets the shrink ray, he puts Gru in a desperate situation. Through some strange and evil circumstances, Gru hatches a plan to steal from Vector involving three cute little orphans.

You can guess where this story is going and likely where it will end up. Three cute girls humanize the heartless villain yada, yada, yada, Pixar level storytelling this is not. What “Despicable Me” lacks in intellect it more than makes up for with big laughs. The directorial team Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud do a terrific job playing off of classic movie super villains from James Bond to Superman. 

Parody is “Despicable Me's comfort zone but a healthy amount of cartoon slapstick, often involving the mumbling, bumbling minions, also earns big laughs. The voice cast brings a few of their own laughs as Steve Carell's Eastern European growl, Russell Brand's throaty Brit, and Jason Segal's nerd voice each has a moment to gurgle a good line. 

”Despicable Me” doesn't have the ingenuity of the Pixar cartoons but it accomplishes the simple goal of earning big laughs. The film has heart, great characters and tremendous voice acting. It also has arguably the best soundtrack of 2010. Pharrell Williams of NERD engineers a big beat Greek chorus to Gru and the girls' adventure and it's the perfect score for the big laughs and big fun of “Despicable Me.”