There's an early scene in ARTHUR 2 ON THE ROCKS that sums up this movie . It's the scene where Arthur taps on a fellow millionaires car window to be told " You're an annoying little man " . Couldn't have said it better myself sir . Annoying , that's the word and that's the whole film - Annoying
Some people may say that's the whole point of Arthur Bach , he's supposed to be annoying and I'm not disputing any of this , my beef is not the way that he's written but by the irritating manner he's played by Dudley Moore who also executively produced ( Usually the sign of a bad movie when the executive producer and star are the same person ) this unentertaining sequel . Moore plays Arthur to the hilt and goes way over the top and never missing an opportunity to tell the audience that this guy's a drunk who thinks he's funny , and there's nothing less funny than someone who thinks he is . Portraying a drunken character is never easy at the best of times and Moore totally fails in his attempts
He's not helped by the script though which has one of those premises that has a good idea but doesn't seem to be well developed at all : Arthur and his wife are trying to adopt a baby after falling upon hard times so Arthur must stop drinking and get a job . It's the kind of idea that personifies good drama of the main protagonist being split between need and desire ie Arthur must needs to stop drinking in order to achieve a better life but he desires to carry on drinking . Unfortunately the drama never really surfaces and the audience are mistreated to numerous scenes of Arthur telling unfunny jokes to the people he meets which doesn't make for a good film
Some people may say that's the whole point of Arthur Bach , he's supposed to be annoying and I'm not disputing any of this , my beef is not the way that he's written but by the irritating manner he's played by Dudley Moore who also executively produced ( Usually the sign of a bad movie when the executive producer and star are the same person ) this unentertaining sequel . Moore plays Arthur to the hilt and goes way over the top and never missing an opportunity to tell the audience that this guy's a drunk who thinks he's funny , and there's nothing less funny than someone who thinks he is . Portraying a drunken character is never easy at the best of times and Moore totally fails in his attempts
He's not helped by the script though which has one of those premises that has a good idea but doesn't seem to be well developed at all : Arthur and his wife are trying to adopt a baby after falling upon hard times so Arthur must stop drinking and get a job . It's the kind of idea that personifies good drama of the main protagonist being split between need and desire ie Arthur must needs to stop drinking in order to achieve a better life but he desires to carry on drinking . Unfortunately the drama never really surfaces and the audience are mistreated to numerous scenes of Arthur telling unfunny jokes to the people he meets which doesn't make for a good film