Arthur (7/12/2011)

Rated PG-13 for alcohol use throughout, sexual content, language and some drug references.

Directed by Jason Winer

Starring Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner…

Arthur was a pleasant surprise.

I’ll be honest. There were about 20 reasons I really wanted to dislike this film, the biggest being Russell Brand, the raucous British comedian who is a terrible role model to young people and hasn’t had a good film yet. I figured that Arthur would be more of the same: a warped premise, and dirty humor to fill in the cracks. I was concerned because the film has been marketed to the younger generation (including Brand’s appearance on American Idol, a myriad of funny previews during popular teen programming, as well as the PG-13 rating. Teenagers are going to watch this one!), so I decided to review it.

I was blown away.

I really wanted to hate this film. No, let me rephrase that. I reaaaaaaaaaally wanted to hate this film! But I just couldn’t. In actuality, it was really good!

Arthur (like the origianal with Dudley Moore) is about a rich, spoiled brat that has never learned responsibility. In this version of the story, Arthur (Brand) is threatened to lose his inheritance unless he marries the contemptible Susan (Garner), his mother’s choice as Arthur’s bride. But Arthur falls in love with Naomi, a poor woman from Queens who slowly changes Arthur for the better until he finally must choose: money, or true love.

Brand actually did a really good job with the role. I despised his character at the beginning of the film, but grew to love him by the end. His friendship with his maid (Helen Mirren) and his love for Naomi transformed him. And unlike some films, the metamorphosis felt authentic, not forced in any way. Love and friendship gradually changed him to become a better person.

At first, some people, like me, might be quick to judge the film. Early in the story, Arthur is a regular Paris Hilton, consistently messing up in the public eye. We see him waking up with different girls, throwing huge parties, and squandering money irresponsibly. Add to that his blatant alcoholism. But don’t give up on the movie or the character just yet… because as the humorous and romantic story unfolds, the director begins to peel back Arthur’s layers one by one. Eventually the film provides a sobering look at where money, alcohol and partying became meaningless to Arthur.

The result is a clever and enjoyable romantic comedy that will probably find its place on many people’s shelves next to films like The Wedding Singer and Notting Hill.

*** SPOILER ALERT***(That means I’m about to tell you something about the end of the film- skip this if you don’t want to know.)

The film’s message was truly redeeming. Near the end of the film Arthur is sitting in an AA meeting talking about his past addiction, and his story almost sounds like a testimony you’d hear in church. He literally said, “I thought these things would truly make me happy. But none of these things could fill the hole within me.”

I wanted to stand up in the theatre and give an altar call.

Hey… I guess that’s the dinner discussion we could all have with our kids if they see this film.

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
The theme of this film is amazing. Arthur is merely a modern-day book of Ecclesiastes: Money, power, sex? Meaningless. But it’s not for younger kids. Unfortunately, the viewers witness some of Arthur’s risqué lifestyle before his transformation. The movie doesn’t have any on screen sex or nudity, but it includes bathroom humor (“Did you wash your winky Arthur?”) and implied sex (Arthur with a girl on top of him in bed, bodies of barely clothed girls and laying around the apartment the morning after a party). And the very unlikable Susan makes several inappropriate sexual references.

I wouldn’t even let me teenagers watch this one without me. But I’d “co-view” it with them.

Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):

Q: What’s the message/theme of this movie?
A: This film graphically reveals what the party lifestyle looks like, but it even more vividly exposes the emptiness that accompanies this kind of lifestyle.

Q: How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
A: We’re going to meet many people who think, “If I only had money, fancy cars, beautiful women… then I’d be happy!” Unfortunately, these pleasures are only temporary, and if we ever achieve them, the irony is, we will just want more!

Remember the guy named Pascal that you studied in Geometry class? The “Pascal’s Triangle” guy? Well Pascal also had a vacuum. Not the kind you clean your carpet with… a vacuum that is a “void” in our life.

Pascal cleverly noted that every one of us is born with a God shaped “vacuum” or “void” in our life. Like Arthur, it might take some of us a long time to realize that temporary pleasures can’t fill this void. Only God fills that void. God provides a hope for us that extends beyond this life, and it’s this hope that gives us strength. Maybe that’s why the Apostle Paul wrote these words of hope from imprisonment:

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
– Philippians 4:11-13

Q: How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
A: Where are you seeking satisfaction – from temporary places, or from God our creator?

Paul actually talks about this a few verses before the above passage. Check it out:

17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
-Philippians 3: 17-21

Questions to ponder:

1. In verse 19, Paul describes those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ—those who are living for themselves, instead of for Christ. How does he describe them?


2. What does “their god is their stomach” mean?


3. What does “their mind is on earthly things” mean?


4. In verse 20, he tells us that our “citizenship is in heaven.” Why do you think he reminds us that we are to be living as citizens of heaven?


5. What are some ways you see people live for earthly things instead of heavenly things?


6. In the movie, how satisfied was Arthur when he was living for temporary thrills like this?

At the end of the movie, when Arthur was talking with the kids, he said, “I thought these things would truly make me happy. But none of these things could fill the hole within me.”

That hole in our life can only be filled by one thing—a relationship with God. Nobody can ever take that away from you.

How can we live this week getting our strength and hope from God, not from temporary things? What does this actually look like day to day?