Withnail & I is a British cult film that I've heard a lot about, but haven't come across very often since it was released in 1987. It is a very English film in many ways, but I think the comedy and pathos that it inspires are universal. Two out of work and out of luck actors Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) are living an unhealthy and dreary existence in london as they try to break into show business. The live in a filthy decrepit flat and consume prodigious amounts of alcohol and other substances, did I forget to mention it is the 1969 and the soundtrack boasts Jimi Hendrix among others. They extract a dinner invitation form Withnail's wealthy and latently homosexual uncle "Uncle Monty" (Richard Griffiths). During the dinner Uncle Monty gives them permission to use his country house. After frightening interactions with the locals, horrible wether, and lack of provisions. Uncle Monty appears and hilariously tries to seduce Marwood. The trip comes to grinding halt when he receives a telegram telling him that he has won an acting role. it is apparent at he end of the film that "I" has moved on while Withnail will carrie on in his squalor and self-destructive ways. He delivers a poetic Shakespearean speech to the wolves in Regent Gardens to end the film, which ends the film on a note of resignation. It is a well-acted and funny look at the life of modern bohemians.
I actually really loved this movie and really connected with it. So did you LIKE like it, or what?
Posted by: Michele | August 31, 2006 at 12:49 AM
I LIKE liked it, but I cannot say that I conncted with it. It is too "English" for me, and the cahracters were perhaps too neurotic.
Posted by: MC | August 31, 2006 at 12:17 PM