Arthur

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Arthur
• a review of Arthur completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 September 2012.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Arthur opens with multimillionaire playboy Arthur Bach (Russell Brand) and his chauffeur Bitterman (Luis Guzman) dressing up as Batman and Robin to attend a formal dinner party hosted by Arthur’s mother Vivienne (Geraldine James). An accident on the way results in Arthur being arrested and photos of the arrest appear on every iPhone at his mother’s party. In order to clean up her son’s image, Vivienne presents Arthur with an ultimatum: he must either marry Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner), a ruthless businesswoman who will stop at nothing to marry Arthur, or be disinherited.

Unable to face the prospect of being poor, Arthur agrees to marry Susan, but then he meets unlicensed tour operator Naomi (Greta Gerwiz).  Naomi’s easy-going, quirky personality instantly captures Arthur’s heart and even Arthur’s long-suffering nanny, Hobson (Helen Mirren) warms to Naomi’s charms. Arthur is now torn between being rich, loveless and unhappy if he marries Susan, or poor and happy if he marries Naomi, and tries desperately to keep both relationships going.

Things change dramatically when Hobson becomes terminally ill and Arthur puts his own life on hold to care for her.

Playboy lifestyles; alcoholism; terminal illness

There is some violence and accidental harm in this movie including:

• While boxing with another man, Arthur punches him in the face and then apologises. Hobson orders Arthur out of the boxing ring and Arthur tells her, “Make me”. Hobson put on a pair of boxing gloves and punches Arthur in the face knocking him to the ground.
• Arthur plays with a nail gun, firing nails into a plastic curtain. A man walks out from behind the curtain with nails sticking out of his chest and arm.
• Susan’s father tells Arthur to put his face near the spinning blade of table saw. He forces Arthur’s face towards the blade, telling him to stick out his tongue because the blade’s moisture sensor will shut down the saw. Arthur struggles as his face is pushed closer to the saw which shuts down just in time.
• Susan threatens Arthur, telling him that her father will cut off his balls if he crosses her.
• Susan punches Arthur in the face knocking Arthur backwards. Susan’s father grabs Arthur, pinning Arthur’s arm behind his back, and tells Susan to punch Arthur again. Later we see Arthur with dried blood on his lip and a reddish bruise on his chin.  

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Hobson, who is dying, lies in a bed connected to a heart monitor. She falls asleep and we next see her dead the following morning with the heart monitor flat-lining. Arthur shouts out for a nurse and a nurse confirms that there is no pulse.

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by the idea of terminal illness and the death of Hobson

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by the idea of terminal illness and the death of Hobson

OK for this age group

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Various alcohol brands, Sony products.

Sexual references

Arthur contained frequent sexual references and innuendo. Examples include:

• Arthur refers to someone as a “lesbian Simon and Garfunkle”
• While Arthur is in the bath, Hobson instructs him to wash his “winky” as he did not know what exquisite wildlife a woman he had been with could be harbouring between her thighs.
• Arthur, in a joking manner, tells his mother that he was unaware that two girls in a photo with him were under eighteen-years of age, or that they were really men, and that he had found out the hard way.
• Arthur makes reference to his testicles being given a hard time and asks when they will be given a rest.
• Hobson jokes that if Arthur kept Naomi as a mistress he would save money on prostitutes.
• After Arthur kisses a girl on the lips, someone comments, “she’s probably pregnant now.” 

• Hobson tells a story of how Arthur once slept with three European princesses at the same time, and how she wondered what venereal disease he may have contracted.
• While standing at the altar at his own wedding, Arthur tells his bride to be and the crowd that he had slept with the three bridesmaids.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Hobson walks into Arthur’s room and begin to pick up various pieces of women’s clothing while partially dressed women sleep on the floor. One young woman gets up picks up some clothing and hurries out of the room. We see a rear view of a young woman wearing a shirt straddling Arthur, who is lying in his bed, then climbing off Arthur and sitting beside him. Hobson tells the woman not to let Arthur at her breast saying that she had to put Tabasco sauce on her own nipples to get Arthur off.   
• On several occasion we see a painted portrait of Arthur standing next to Susan, who is on her hands and knees and wearing brief sexy clothing.
• Susan enters Arthur’s apartment wearing a trench coat then opens her coat to reveal a black corset and high boots. She then attempts to seduce him, kissing him and crawling after him, undoing his shirt and pulling his pants down.            
• While standing in church after announcing that he is unable to marry his intended bride, Arthur strips off his own clothes until he is naked except for his underwear, then walks out into the street where people look at him.
• We see Arthur and Naomi lie side by side on a bed, fully clothed. Naomi kisses Arthur on the cheek with Arthur kissing her passionately back.

Use of substances

Arthur contains frequent depiction of alcohol use and abuse, intoxicated behaviour and drug references.

• Arthur is seen drinking alcohol to excess throughout the film.
• Hobson tells a story of how Arthur, while engaged in sexual activity with three women at once, was so drunk that he threw up on two of the women while he urinated on the third.  He was unable to remember any of this the next morning.
• Susan behaves in an intoxicated manner, and when questioned by Arthur, admits to having drunk two bottles of wine.   
• We hear a man talking about buying a crack den and turning it into a condo, and hear a second man say he did the reverse.
• To tackle his alcoholism Arthur goes to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but only manages to last a few minutes. At a second AA meeting Arthur announces that he is an alcoholic and has not had a drink for six months.
• A group of children make reference to drugs including crack, coke and meths.

Coarse language

There are some coarse language and putdowns in this movie, including:

• balls, pervert, bloody, bugger, pampered prick, Jesus, bitch, tart.   

In a nutshell

Arthur is a remake of a 1980’s comedy classic starring Dudley Moore which targets an adolescent and adult audience. Arthur is touching at times and has its funny moments, but does not live up to the 1980’s classic, making greater reliance on sexual innuendo for humour.

The main messages from this movie are:

• money will not make you happy, or buy you love.
• true love is worth more than any amount of money.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with older children include self sacrifice and compassion as demonstrated by Hobson (and to some extent, also by Arthur).

Parents may wish to discuss how the film portrays Arthur’s alcohol abuse. Does it glamorise his alcoholism?