On the day of Sidney Lumet's death, I celebrated by doing what he might have wanted. I went to the movies.

Of course, Lumet - whose forte was serious drama - might not have endorsed the movie that I saw: the remake of "Arthur," starring Russell Brand and Helen Mirren. So be it. I had a good time.

The film received a whopping 25 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a bit surprising. My bet is that most who don't like the film are fans of the original, which starred Dudley Moore and John Gielgud. I don't have that problem.

Not that I didn't like the original. I just never saw it. Not all the way through.

So I watched the remake with a fresh eye. And since I haven't yet grown tired of the crazy-Brit comic Brand, I didn't have any particular bias to overcome.

In fact, I like him. From the first time I saw him, in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," I thought he had a unique ability to play a strange kind of loser - in that film a narcississtic rock star, here a perpetually adolescent with an obsession for vodka.

His secret, I think, is both comic timing and the kind of boyish charm that allows him to say and do outrageous thing and still seem likeable. Even lovable.

Whatever, when paired with Mirren - an able substitute for Gielgud - and Jennifer Garner, who is perfect as a harridan, Brand is eminently watchable. As is the film "Arthur" itself.

It may not be something that Lumet would have directed. But considering he cast Melanie Griffith (the ultimate shiksa) as a cop going undercover in a conservative Jewish community, I'm not sure he would be qualified to judge.

Below: The trailer for "Arthur."