MUBI

I think this is a case of a film built up in my mind so greatly. It would never stand a chance to fulfill my expectations of it over the years. I have read and heard about this film from critics, Video Guides and Film Geeks everywhere. So I finally broke down and watched it and was left disappointed.

Now that is not to say the film is bad. Watching it I can see what people like about it. It’s small off beat and simple. Yet wittily funny a kind of proper rebellious film where the characters are people you wish you could be like or know as a friend.
There is something special about the film that makes it feel a cut above the rest. It has a comforting attitude like an old friend. It is a film where not much happens but so much happens where it gets to be ridiculously madcap

IT is presented as a timeless tale though having no cultural references. It feels dated to me.

Richard E. Grant is phenomenal and shows why he is one of my favorite british actors. He has a face of snobbery or decadence that can’t be repeated. I only wish he would work more. He’d be perfect as a villain in a Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright movie. All the more amazing is that he was able to pull off this performance never having been a drinker and never actually gotten drunk. He had his first tastes of alcohol making this film. He also unfortunately lost his child during the making of the film
Paul McCann IS hilarious in the more understated role. As the and I character him and Richard Griffiths provide the most hilarious side plot story they have great chemistry themselves that had me dying of laughter in the bedroom scenes.

Ralph Brown playing the drug dealer Danny is hilarious and sort of refreshes his role in WAYNE’S WORLD 2 which actually makes that film funnier to me now and gives a knowing comedy shout out to the film.

While i only think it is ok. I would still suggest this film as a nice rental.
The film is about 2 unemployed actors who need to get a way from it all and end up broke and hungry while staying at Withnail’s uncle’s cabin. They can’t hunt and the townspeople treat them like crap. We watch as they try to survive with plenty of booze.

Director Bruce Robinson appeared in Franco Zefferelli’s Romeo & Juliet and claims the director repeatedly tried to seduce him on that film. He used the come on’s for the ones Uncle Monty uses in the film to try to seduce Marwood

GRADE: C+

Bruce Robinson never quite lived up to the promise of this bittersweet autobiographical debut, about two unemployed actors in 1969 London, living hand-to-mouth in a cold apartment, who take a trip to the countryside to recoup, but find miserable conditions (and a few crazy locals) put a strain on their already shaky friendship. Funny sequences include a run in with a randy bull, a drunken attack on a dowdy countryside tea and crumpet shop, a session with a drug dealer (Ralph Brown) smoking a carrot sized joint, killing a live rooster for supper, and dodging the advances of an amorous gay uncle (scene stealer Richard Griffiths). The farce is bawdy and very British, but the emotional core is real, and by the end of the weekend trip, the two friends (played brilliantly by Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant) have all but grown apart, one with a future, one into the bottle, and the final scene between the two is devastating.

“Watch Withnail and I”

One of the best British films ever, according to its many fanatics, and one of the biggest cult movies, Withnail and I is the story of two unemployed actors, Withnail and Marwood (or simply I), living in Camden Town, London, in the 60s, and desperately trying to survive. They live in a very shabby and dirty flat, drinking and doing drugs, whilst waiting for the big chance, or at least a small part, just to make some cash. The script contains a vast array of witty punch lines, and there are many famous quotes off the film, especially lines belonging to Withnail, such as “I must have some booze. I demand to have some booze”, or “I want something’s flesh”. The amount of alcohol drunk by Withnail during the film is life-threatening, and one can find on the net the complete list of such drinks, also associated to drinking games.

The character of Uncle Monty plays an interesting counterpoint to Withnail, highlighting even more his dysfunctional histrionics; Monty the well-spoken, Monty the prominently homosexual uncle, quoting poems, lover of all things beautiful, to whom Withnail tries to offer Marwood as a sacrificial lamb, in order to achieve his goal. But, then again, it is Marwood the real ‘nemesis’ to Withnail, and all the more so because he is not openly against him, he does not, generally speaking, antagonize him, but his actions, and the results of those actions, will serve as a clue to the attentive viewer to uncover a deeper symbolic level to the film.

The film could be defined tragic-comic, or a dark comedy; the story is based on director Bruce Robinson’s own experience, whilst living in Camden in the 60s, and it must be a way of life many of us have experienced in London, at one time or another, albeit maybe not as extreme as we see in the movie. Probably, this element must have contributed to the enthusiasm the film generated in so many people.