Arthur Newman

source: Arthur Newman

A total yawn. Don't know why they made this movie. Two uninteresting people doing a silly thing on a silly road trip. A silly golf pro fakes his own death and ends up with a troubled woman. They break into people's houses. Emily and Colin are not convincing as Americans. They need to stop casting British actors as Americans when they are not suited to the role. Nice to see Anne Heche again but she is totally wasted. How could he do that to his son? Faking his death because his young son is a bit sulky? What a bad father. And things end when it's time to give him a tight slap for all the nonsense he put everyone through.

Wallace Avery (Colin Firth) is hated by his own son, and is completely bored of his lifestyle. He fakes his death, and assumes a new identity named Arthur Newman to recommence his life. He meets a troubled woman who calls herself Mike (Emily Blunt) who also happens to be starting over with her life. I actually didn't mind this film. It's a decent story. Colin Firth & Emily Blunt are on the top of their game, and managed to make this movie thoroughly watchable. My problem with the movie is that it seems a bit hollow. It's hard to feel sympathy for someone we don't know much about. Wallace Avery is a man with an estranged son, and a bit of an identity crisis, and I had real issues with it. Despite that Colin Firth was excellent himself, his character isn't that endearing. All we really know is that he's bored of his current lifestyle. I wanted more emotion, more background, and more development with the character. It seemed a little rushed. Emily Blunt's unpredictability was always fun, but like Firth, I also wanted more background on her, despite that Blunt was absolutely tremendous with her performance. I was never bored at all, and it had moments that were really good, but some things were poorly developed to my taste. The ending is rather ambiguous. It doesn't end on a sad note, but all it really tells us is that both of their fantasies of starting a new life is over, and it's back to reality. I appreciated that it had the guts to take a risky route at the end, but more clarity also would have been nice, since the movie is rather depressing to watch. Final Thoughts: It's certainly worth a look. It'll maintain your interest, if nothing else. Colin Firth & Emily Blunt will get you through it just fine. It's just too bad it was rushed 6/10

In an obvious homage to (if not an outright rip-off of) Arthur Miller's seminal play about facing life in the fast lane of corporate America when a guy is a tortoise, not a hare, Miller's "successful" suicide Willie morphs into a slightly more imaginative "fake" suicide Wallace Avery, who dubs himself Arthur Newman (as in a New Man, get it?) in an attempt to use upwards of $50,000 from his savings account to start a new life. Despite giving himself the first name of a guy married to Marilyn Monroe (Miller), this "fake" Arthur is not a successful author when it comes to writing a fairy tale ending. Instead, he hooks up with an even bigger whacko, Mike (played by Emily Blunt) who is burdened by the urge to impersonate her institutionalized paranoid schizophrenic twin sister, whose condition drove their mom to suicide! Naturally, "Arthur" and "Mike" decide that the best step toward making a happier future for themselves is to stage a series of role-playing home invasions. Is this enough to carry a light comedy? I've seen a lot worse.