Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)

Directed by Bud Yorkin. Starring Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, Stephen Elliott, Cynthia Sikes, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Kathy Bates, Paul Benedict, John Gielgud, Barney Martin, Jack Gilford, Ted Ross, Thomas Barbour. [PG]

The tagline for this irrelevant sequel states: “No money, still funny.” Talk about flagrant false advertising. Oh, sure, a few humorous one-liners squeak through, but here we have a version of Arthur the drunken billionaire who’s married and looking forward to having kids(!); when the money vanishes through contrived means, he’s also forced to find gainful employment and voluntarily gives up booze (however temporary that might be). Lesson unlearned: never let your caricatures grow up. When it’s not just copying the original, it’s floundering, and regardless of inebriation, no sensible adoption agent would see this guy as a suitable papa…but if we were meant to take that part of the story seriously, surely we were meant to go along with the boring plot machinations that send Arthur from the penthouse to the poor house and right back again in time for the unearned touchy-feely finale. Not even a walk-on from the deceased butler played by Gielgud—as either a hallucination or a ghost—can save the thing. Dedicated to Steve Gordon, the director of the original Arthur who passed away in 1982.

33/100