Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Arthur Newman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 28, 2013

With a star duo like Colin Firth and Emily Blunt, one might expect Arthur Newman to be either a penetrating drama or a wry comedy. Instead, it’s an often depressing entry in the “lost souls find salvation in each other’s quirkiness” sweepstakes. The film is supposed to be charming and at least amusing if not laugh our loud funny, but it comes across as a rather odd hybrid that never finds a sure footing despite having loads of charisma on hand with its leading players. Firth portrays an former golf pro who fakes his own death (hilarious!) and soon gets entangled with Blunt’s character, a morose drug addict who has overdosed (hysterical!) and is ranting in a crazed stupor by a hotel pool when Firth decides to help her. These two misfits then set off on a road trip together, supposedly finding out as much about themselves as about each other.

Firth plays Wallace Avery, a once well known athlete who has left his pro golf days behind and taken an undemanding job at FedEx, and who, estranged from his ex-wife and son, decides to fake his death and assume the identity of one Arthur Newman. Blunt’s character has a similar self-created identity crisis. She’s a small time thief named Charlotte Fitzgerald who is traveling under the name of her psychotic twin sister Michaela. Screenwriter Becky Johnston seems to want to make some kind of cogent commentary about the nature of identity in a fractious modern world, something that she approaches not just with these two people pretending to be someone else, but in a sequence where they assume still other identities (if only for a moment), but it’s largely for naught. The problem here is that Arthur Newman simply doesn’t know who—or what—it is.

Arthur Newman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arthur Newman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This digitally shot feature boasts a reasonably sharp and well detailed image, but it is really peculiarly color graded to a bizarre green tint a lot of the time, to the point where when Wallace/Arthur walks next to the ocean, it's the verdant color of an spruce tree. This gives flesh tones an unhealthy pallor and tends to rob the image of some fine detail at times.

Arthur Newman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Arthur Newman's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio is fine, if unremarkable, offering problem free dialogue and occasionally immersive moments as "Arthur" and "Michaela" take their road trip. Fidelity is excellent, though dynamic range is fairly negligible.

Arthur Newman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:17)


• Behind the Scenes Featurette (1080i; 30:27)

Arthur Newman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of Firth and/or Blunt may find enough here—if only barely—to warrant spending time with these two characters, but this is one road trip that's largely aimless.