1969 recreated in 1984; two unemployed reprobate actors spend a weekend in a farmhouse, after which one of them gets a job. There's a vague homoerotic theme.
Ever seen "The Young Ones", with Rik Mayall et al? It's the same joke. The Dunning-Kruger effect, or "illusory superiority", where people convince themselves that they're doing fine, when they're actually not. In Withnail and I (Marwood)'s case, as in The Young Ones, the humour is in the grossness of their incompetence while they narcissistically strive to preserve the illusion of their own wonderfulness. (For example, the rust-bucket Jaguar they drive North in).
So I get the gags, but really, it isn't until at least halfway through that any sort of suspense or drama gets going (is the price of their 'holiday' for Marwood (I) to be seduced by Richard Griffith (Withnail's uncle)? So for the first time I managed to watch W&I without falling asleep. There are a few good gags, and scenes recognisable to any English public-school child of the sixties, but not many other people.
W&I has wistful English atmosphere by the bucketload, but not much else.
Ever seen "The Young Ones", with Rik Mayall et al? It's the same joke. The Dunning-Kruger effect, or "illusory superiority", where people convince themselves that they're doing fine, when they're actually not. In Withnail and I (Marwood)'s case, as in The Young Ones, the humour is in the grossness of their incompetence while they narcissistically strive to preserve the illusion of their own wonderfulness. (For example, the rust-bucket Jaguar they drive North in).
So I get the gags, but really, it isn't until at least halfway through that any sort of suspense or drama gets going (is the price of their 'holiday' for Marwood (I) to be seduced by Richard Griffith (Withnail's uncle)? So for the first time I managed to watch W&I without falling asleep. There are a few good gags, and scenes recognisable to any English public-school child of the sixties, but not many other people.
W&I has wistful English atmosphere by the bucketload, but not much else.