Movies like this are made with the sole purpose of giving a pretty remarkable character a sandbox to play in and not much else. Films can live and die by their protagonists when they depend on this, because if we don’t end up being enthralled by this character then we’re never going to care as to what ends up happening to him. Pirates of the Caribbean is one such franchise, the entire purpose of those movies exist for the sole purpose of us enjoying watching Capt. Jack Sparrow run around in the open sandbox of the great seas and see the reactions of all the people around him.

Arthur is no different from Pirates of the Caribbean in that sense. When a rich playboy who hasn’t figured out how to really grow up just yet thanks to the fact that the world he lives in is filled with any and everything that he can write a cheque for (i.e. everything) is finally posed with making a decision that actually affects his life we get an adventure/romance story of how he meanders through life trying to avoid that choice as long as is physically possible.

Is it wrong that I find Russell Brand’s ridiculous mannerisms, which were so well played up to his strengths, so enjoyable on screen? I guess not, but at the same time I can understand why other people – those of you who complained about him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek – would find him irritating. He’s able to play the immature and infantile role so well that I question his actual maturity in real life at times, but that doesn’t make the film any less enjoyable.

I believe that Greta Gerwig is honestly the new replacement for Zooey Deschanel as the next – as some critics have titled it – “manic pixie dream girl”. She’s able to be so enjoyable in any role and always accessible while having her real life quirks that make her so believable.

Where the movie falters and breaks down is not just in its choice of antagonists, Susan (Jennifer Garner) and Burt (Nick Nolte), but how it decides to instead of ground our main character in a somewhat realistic world use these ridiculous antagonists to try and out crazy Arthur, which honestly is a bad decision. When you have one borderline insane character that’s enough for one movie, we don’t need to Spider-Man 3 this movie all over again.

Rating: 5.0/10