Hollywood renders British Russell Brand bland in “˜Arthur’

Most celebrity interviews on late night television operate with the predictability of a paint-by-numbers kit. The guest appears dressed up and classy, heaves gratitude toward the audience, laughs politely at the host’s jokes, tells a pre-rehearsed story about his or her childhood.

But watching Russell Brand give one of those interviews is like watching a master surrealist at work. He throws himself with giddy abandon into the conversation, enjoying himself so much he can’t sit still.

He’s been doing a number of them lately, supporting his new film “Arthur,” which opened last Friday, and they’re wonderful to watch.

Historically speaking, this isn’t how it’s supposed to work ““ a Brit teaching Americans how to loosen up. England is supposed to be the rigid one, the country of aristocracy and tea time; we’re supposed to be the rebellious teenagers.

For years now, though, the Brits have been making almost all the daring, cutting-edge comedy, leaving American television with little to do but nick the idea, trim any sharp corners and package it into a safe and marketable product.

The most obvious example is “The Office” ““ the original British version pushes aggressively past the threshold of awkwardness, caring not at all to humanize Ricky Gervais’ insufferable David Brent. As funny and enjoyable as the American version can be, it still remains within certain boundaries, making some concessions to normalcy.

Tragically, we’re now trying to dilute Brand in the same way. He built a reputation as a reckless, unhinged comedian in England, the kind who would show up to work dressed as Osama Bin Laden the day after Sept. 11.

In those days all the drugs and carousing had the better of him, but he cleaned up his act and came to America at the perfect moment, as the rock star Aldous Snow in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” In an otherwise very American comedy, Brand was a bright, shining star of lovable lunacy.

It was only a medium-sized part, but it was enough to make him huge ““ to get him hosting MTV’s Video Music Awards, and starring with Jonah Hill in a “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” spinoff, “Get Him to the Greek.”

The film exists to be Brand’s showcase, a montage of debauchery in which Snow repeatedly thwarts Hill’s character’s attempts to oblige the mandate of the title. Pulling from his own madcap experiences and his incredible British eloquence, he transitions effortlessly into a starring role.

And at that point, it seems, the vultures descended, after Hollywood saw the words “leading man” in flashing marquee lights. So now we have Brand in “Arthur,” a squandered, boring slog of a comedy about an heir who must marry against his will or forfeit his enormous inheritance.

It must be said that this is a multinational disaster: The director, Jason Winer, is American, but the screenwriter, Peter Baynham, is British (the film is adapted from a 1981 comedy by American writer Steve Gordon).

The film is all about the repression of Arthur’s childish whimsy, and in that sense it’s an apt metaphor for what’s being done to Brand. Nearly every moment in the movie seems neutered or watered down, even Arthur’s alcoholism, which is almost made to seem cute.

It’s painful to watch Brand in a cage like that, when we’ve seen the ruckus he’s capable of making. It might be impossible to write a movie that will match what Brand does when left to his own devices, the way some bands can never record an album that captures the spirit of its live performances.

Brand’s humor comes from his boundless enthusiasm and his lanky physical presence, and especially from his magnificently imaginative way with words. Just hearing him speak has become one of the great joys of comedy, like watching Buster Keaton dance his way through slapstick.

Writing his dialogue, then, must be a daunting task, and one rendered poorly this time around. There are times in “Arthur” when Brand seems saddened by the lines he’s been given, wishing he could break free and run wild with his impulses.

Release him, Hollywood, and let us hear all the thoughts in that crazy British head of his.

If you want to see Russell Brand set free, email Goodman at “¨[email protected].”¨”¨

“Pop Psychology” runs every Monday.