Logging

Film:  Arthur, the original Dudley Moore version

I never saw the remake, but there is no way it is as wild as the first movie.  This was clearly a huge influence on the Adam Sandler and Chris Farley man-child films.  And it got me thinking about Bad News Bears.  Why do studios remake these gonzo, wild movies, and then totally neuter them?  It makes no sense.  It's like they don't understand why these films are beloved.  They think Bad News Bears or Arthur works because of the title?  They work because they are drinking movies about alcoholics.  All the comedy in Arthur is drunken comedy.  The movie is far from perfect and I'm not even sure I'd recommend it, but it is full of life and sloppiness and absurdity.  I'd take a movie like this any day over the glossy humorless trying-too-hard versions of remake comedies - even one's that do ok, like 21 Jump Street.