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.
Arthur Newman
2012
Action / Comedy / Drama
Plot summary
Wallace Avery hates his job. His ex-wife and son hate him, and he's blown his one shot at living his dream. Not wanting to face all this, he stages his own death and buys himself a new identity as Arthur Newman. However, Arthur's road trip towards anew life is interrupted by the arrival of the beautiful but fragile Mike, who is also trying to leave her past behind. Drawn to one another, these two damaged souls begin to connect as they break into empty homes and take on the identities of the absent owners: elderly newlyweds, a high-roller and his Russian lady, among others. Through this process, Arthur and Mike discover that what they love most about each other are the identities they left at home, and their real journey, that of healing, begins.
Uploaded by: OTTO
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Uninteresting - don't be tempted to watch it because it has a famous cast
not a great script
I guess I can see why Colin Firth would be attracted to the role of a depressed American, but really, the script wasn't up to his level.
Firth and Emily Blunt star in "Arthur Newman," a 2012 film directed by Dante Ariola. Wallace Avery (Firth) is unhappy at his job as a floor manager. He's divorced, has a girlfriend (Anne Heche),and a young son who hates him. An excellent golfer, he didn't make it as a pro because of nerves. However, he helped a man with his slice, and as a result, has been offered the job of golf pro at a club in Terre Haute, Indiana. He fakes his death and takes off.
Along the way, he helps a young woman (Blunt) by taking her to the hospital. When she's better, she goes with him. Eventually, they become lovers. He finds out she's using a fake identity as well, running from a twin sister who is schizophrenic and may need her.
The two of them start to break into people's houses and take on their identities and make love in their beds.
This is a pretty boring, slow movie enlivened by the performances of the two leads. Along the way we learn something about the characters, but not enough to become truly invested in them. We just know they're miserable. We know Wallace's son hates him because he wasn't there for him, but we don't know why or what went on between them, or what happened with his ex-wife, and why his girlfriend is discontented.
It's sad because this could have been an amazing movie. It's about two people that learn what they love about each other and their value to those left behind. But it doesn't go into these facets deeply enough.
Both Firth and Blunt are excellent, trying to flesh out what's there. In the end, I was sympathetic to the characters but not really involved with them. It was sort of like giving street directions to two strangers and then wishing them luck.
It Could Have Been A Better Film
Arthur Newman is a comedy/drama that features Colin Firth, Emily Blunt and Anne Heche together with David Andrews,Sterling Beaumon,Kristin Lehman and Lucas Hedges.The screenplay is directed by Becky Johnson and it is directed by Dante Ariola.
The movie tells the story of the not so glorious life of Wallace Avery, a middle aged man who hates his job, gets no respect from his family, wife and son, and sees no accomplishments for his long term hopes.Finally decided to end this charade, he gets hit by a new ideology: "If you don't have a life, get someone else's". Not willing to waste anymore precious time, he fakes his own death and assumes the identity of Arthur Newman, opening new opportunities and ready to start a new life.When he meets Michaela "Mike" Fitzgerald, whom Arthur discovers passed out poolside at a seedy roadside motel.Eventually,painful secrets unfold and new lives take shape as he is about to discover a new world and a new style of living on the edge, which however it seems to be somehow what he was looking for a very long time.
Too bad that the film doesn't display any real interest in capturing and sustaining the viewer's interest, as it progresses at an unreasonably deliberate pace that's compounded by a narrative that's jam-packed with hackneyed elements and twists.Also,the viewer is subsequently forced to wait for something interesting or worthwhile to occur, and it goes without saying that the movie's ability to stave off total mediocrity is due primarily to Blunt and Firth's competent acting.
The generic feel that's been hard-wired into virtually everything that transpires within as it grows more and more disheartening as time progresses, which does, as expected, prevent one from working up any interest in the characters' inevitable transformation into happier, more content figures.Added to that,there's a real lack of depth, as evidenced by a thin subplot about the burgeoning relationship between Arthur's grieving girlfriend and his son.
It's a shame, really, as Arthur Newman could and should have been something good, instead of a disappointing waste of time both for those involved in its production and for those saddled with the task of watching it.