Arthur (1981) / YMMV

Awesome Music: Aside from the Award-Bait Song "Arthur's Theme", there's "Money", which is Arthur's Leitmotif and provides a comic, bouncy theme to complement Arthur's conspicuous consumption.
Escapist Character: As Arthur asks Gloria in the opening sequence: "Don't you wish you were me? I know I do." He's insanely wealthy, doesn't have to work, and can travel in glamorous circles. He is also, as Roger Ebert pointed out in his review, what every real life drunk person believes themselves to be: Witty and a joy to be around. About the only thing he isn't is conventionally attractive, the key word being conventionally.
- Not only did this figure into one of the film's Taglines — "Don't you wish you were Arthur?" — but its premiere on The Movie Channel in September 1982 was promoted with a contest to win a lavish weekend jaunt for two to New York City!
First Installment Wins: Fans will acknowledge there was a sequel, but would rather it never be spoken of, and remake? Well, there was one, but...(adjusting for inflation, the remake did only a little better at the box office than Arthur 2 did back in 1988). Interestingly, the leads of both the sequel and the remake came to regret their respective participations.
Heartwarming Moments: Linda realizing just how important Hobson is to Arthur (and vice versa), asking if she may kiss him on the cheek.
Hobson: Is it something you feel strongly about?
Linda: Yes, yes it is.
- When telling a drunk stranger about Hobson's death, Arthur refers to him as his father.
Hilarious in Hindsight: There are a lot of Christmas references in the film, and at one point Linda remarks Arthur looks like one of Santa's elves. Guess what Dudley Moore plays in Santa Claus: The Movie? In fact, it's precisely because this movie brought it up that the Salkinds got the idea to cast Moore in such a role.
Hollywood Homely: The film tries to make Susan as frumpy and dowdy as possible without making Jill Eikenberry look actually homely — but it's Jill Eikenberry. It's best exemplified by the odd dress Susan wears at the Christmas party. (This is averted in the sequel with Cynthia Sikes as Susan, who is simply presented as glamorous.)
Hype Backlash: The U.K. release of the original film came a few months after its massively popular North American release and while it ended up the biggest hit of 1982 there, the local critics weren't as enamored with it as their U.S. counterparts. Alongside Peter Cook, Dudley Moore had been a U.K. star since The '60s but had moved to the U.S. and only just come into international success as a solo act, and some critics felt he (and Sir John Gielgud for that matter) was wasting his talents in broader, glossier American comedies — as Moore put it in a letter to a friend, "it's as if I have rejected England, abandoned my family, and am now being punished for it." (As well, U.K. viewers would have more quickly identified it as a Genre Throwback to such works as P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories.)
Jerkass Woobie: Arthur is a devil-may-care millionaire alcoholic nonetheless prone to self-pity regarding his loneliness, desperate to avoid taking on adult responsibilities, and annoying to most of the people around him because of his constant joke-cracking. But beyond the fact that he is a Lonely Rich Kid, he has a generous heart capable of great love, and he wants to make people happy with his jokes — it's just that most of the people around him are terminally humorless. In-Universe Hobson, the one person in his immediate circle who truly loves him, sees him as this.
Out of the Ghetto: An exception to the Comedy Ghetto — it won the Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song Oscars and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor as well. Considering that this movie was the second most popular of the films nominated for Best Actor that year, Dudley Moore might have won had Henry Fonda not been overdue for a Consolation Award and On Golden Pond not been the most popular of the five films.
Refrain from Assuming: The theme is not called "When You Get Caught Between the Moon and New York City", or even just "The Moon and New York City". It's called "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)".
Retroactive Recognition:
- Paul Gleason is the executive whom Gielgud tells to "go screw yourself".
- Barney Martin (Ralph Marolla) is best-known now as Morty Seinfeld.
Sequelitis: Among other things, it brought Hobson back for a few scenes as a Spirit Advisor. Its writer Andy Breckman (now better known as a co-creator of Monk) reportedly stood outside his home theater to personally apologize to anyone who saw it.
Signature Song: "Arthur's Theme", but of course. It also warrants an honorable mention among the songs of original performer Christopher Cross, right behind "Sailing" and "Ride Like the Wind". Reflecting how closely tied the film and song are, and Cross and Dudley Moore's real life friendship (extending to live performances where Moore — a professional jazz pianist — played the piano part to accompany Cross), the former's concerts now present it as a tribute to the latter.
Spiritual Successor: The film is considered a modern reworking of Jeeves and Wooster. Arthur is the equivalent of Bertie Wooster and his servant Hobson the equivalent of Jeeves.
Tear Jerker: Hobson's death. Of course, it's hard for anything to be too tearjerking in a movie this silly.
Values Dissonance:
- In 1981, Arthur's alcoholism could be played for carefree laughs, including scenes of him drinking while driving, and not raise too many eyebrows. By the time of the sequel in 1988 such behavior was being treated much more seriously by the public and Arthur finally cleaning up is part of his Character Development. The marketing for the 2011 remake didn't even bring up alcoholism; in-film it does but Arthur regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings is used as a signpost of his character growth in the third act. With regards to both the sequel and later adaptations (both the 2011 remake and an unsuccessful stage musical adaptation from The '90s), many critics feel that trying to realistically address Arthur's condition takes away the inherent fun of a character who by design was Fun Personified and escapist.
- The 2011 remake also was negatively affected by the fact that in the intervening 30 years 1) income inequality skyrocketed, making an Uncle Pennybags's romantic woes harder to sympathize with, and 2) Arthur's more self-destructive, Manchild tendencies (especially with the remake's Denser and Wackier tone) echoed the downfalls of wealthy, partying celebrities such as Charlie Sheen and thus came off as less funny.

YMMV / Arthur (1981)

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