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For all of those who simply wanted to leave their lives behind and be somebody else, Arthur Newman is a movie for you.
Wallace Avery (Colin Firth) is at a crossroads, divorced from his wife, ignored by his son and hating his job, he decides one day to simply walk away from his life and assume a new identity, Arthur Newman and follow his dream to become a golf pro. On the way to his dream job in Indiana, he comes to the aid of a drug-addicted woman, Michelle a.k.a. Mike (Emily Blunt) and the two of them take a wild road trip that gives each what they need and while they come from different worlds also displays how much alike the two are.
Newman/Avery once was a successful golf phenom who constantly cracks under pressure. His absence has taken an adverse effect on his estranged lover, Mina (Anne Heche) and his curious son, who bond over the presumed death of a man neither understood well. Mike, meanwhile, is in turmoil because she believes that a family illness will one day overtake her so she drinks too much, engages in meaningless sex and is simply attempting to self-destruct.
Screenwriter Becky Johnson takes this simple story and adds an additional element of Arthur and Mike casing victims, assuming their identity, mimicking their behavior and having wild sexual escapades as their characters. While it makes sense in a strange way, it is nonetheless a peculiar wrinkle indeed.
Director Dante Ariola has two amazing actors in Firth and Blunt but unfortunately doesn’t give either of them much to do. Blunt, who displays a wonderful combination of sexiness with an earthy quality in nearly every role, upholds her part of the bargain in the film. Firth also plays yet another flawed man maybe every bit as complex as his characters in The King’s Speech or A Simple Man but his deficiencies are more a byproduct of the script than his usual fine work.
The story is somewhat flat in that both characters are living someone else’s life and the film’s simplistic message is to learn to love who you are and be comfortable in your own skin and the all will be well in the world. While that may be true in real life, Ariola’s story doesn’t give us much more than that and wastes the performance of two fine performers.
Arthur Newman isn’t a bad story but is a one-dimensional tale sorely lacking anything other than another set of beautiful people suffering who only need to love themselves and be comfortable in their wonderful sexy skin.
Grade: C-