Being a student at Public School, I am well aware of "Withnail and I's" cult status and I had some idea of the sort of lines that were I was about to be exposed to, particularly as they had been constantly quoted to me ever since I arrived at Public School. But nothing had prepared me for what was to follow.
London, 1969. Two out of work actors, Withnail and the anonymous "I" decide to escape the grot of their flat and the growing tea bags of their sink for a week at their Uncle Monty's cottage in Yorkshire. However when they arrive there they realise that they've gone on holiday by mistake and that, not only did they have hardly any food or fuel, but that they have attacked a local whom they believe to be homicidal. What follows is drug, drink and insanity fuelled romp through the country and back to London.
Bruce Robinson's script is brilliant. Filled with fantastic comic set pieces and superb lines, this script has so many quotable pieces that the audience is left rolling in the aisles and yet wonderfully touched by the ending. The characters are wonderfully constructed but it is the performances that give them and the film a fantastically sharp edge. Richard E. Grant is joyous to watch and unforgettable as the eponymous Withnail. His performance is made even more astounding when you consider that he is teetotal. To weigh against this surreal drunk is the down to earth, but similarly inebriated, "I", played superbly well by Paul McGann. His sensitive performance is glorious to watch. Richard Griffiths is also strong in support of the two leads as the raving homosexual Uncle Monty. The film is also supported by fantastic music, notably Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower".
Brilliantly funny and superbly well acted, "Withnail and I" is a deserving cult classic that will stand the test of time.
London, 1969. Two out of work actors, Withnail and the anonymous "I" decide to escape the grot of their flat and the growing tea bags of their sink for a week at their Uncle Monty's cottage in Yorkshire. However when they arrive there they realise that they've gone on holiday by mistake and that, not only did they have hardly any food or fuel, but that they have attacked a local whom they believe to be homicidal. What follows is drug, drink and insanity fuelled romp through the country and back to London.
Bruce Robinson's script is brilliant. Filled with fantastic comic set pieces and superb lines, this script has so many quotable pieces that the audience is left rolling in the aisles and yet wonderfully touched by the ending. The characters are wonderfully constructed but it is the performances that give them and the film a fantastically sharp edge. Richard E. Grant is joyous to watch and unforgettable as the eponymous Withnail. His performance is made even more astounding when you consider that he is teetotal. To weigh against this surreal drunk is the down to earth, but similarly inebriated, "I", played superbly well by Paul McGann. His sensitive performance is glorious to watch. Richard Griffiths is also strong in support of the two leads as the raving homosexual Uncle Monty. The film is also supported by fantastic music, notably Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower".
Brilliantly funny and superbly well acted, "Withnail and I" is a deserving cult classic that will stand the test of time.