Withnail and I

1987

Action / Comedy / Drama

25
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 93% · 86 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 93% · 25K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 51431 51.4K

actor lake district drug dealer london, england northern england countryside

Plot summary

Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.

Director

Bruce Robinson Photo
Bruce Robinson

Top cast

Michael Elphick Photo
Michael Elphick as Jake
Richard Griffiths Photo
Richard Griffiths as Monty
Richard E. Grant Photo
Richard E. Grant as Withnail
Bruce Robinson Photo
Bruce Robinson as Double for various actors in distant shots
1080p.BluRay
1.64 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 47 min
Seeds 88

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by blackburnj-1 9 / 10

Smashing Comic Surrealism

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.
Reviewed by classicsoncall 7 / 10

"We are not drunks. We are multi-millionaires!"

British humor can be very deceptive. You have the outright nonsense of the Monty Python crew, and then you have the biting witticism of a screenplay as is found in "Withnail and I". It's difficult to say whether you can enjoy a film like this or not; it's just a bit too dark and seamy for entertainment purposes, but it finds it's rewards in other ways. There's a sense of rambling about with the story line, introducing deficient characters along the way to complement the antics of Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and friend Marwood (Paul McGann), the celebrated 'and I' of the picture. For a couple of characters having to operate from the wrong side of the tracks, their fate is virtually all down hill from there, thereby counterpointing the understated humor with a very real sense of sadness and melancholy. The pacing of the film may be somewhat slow and tedious for some viewers, not to mention the paucity of a plot, but for those with the patience, this is a movie that satisfies the discriminating viewer with it's prescient dialog and incorrigible wit.
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