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Withnail And I on DVD (1986)

Withnail And I cover art
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Average rating: (74%)
1214381116720
3.5
 
Starring: Paul McGann | Richard E. Grant | Richard Griffiths | Ralph Brown | Michael Elphick | Daragh O'Malley
Director: Bruce Robinson
Studio: ANCHOR BAY
Run time: 103 mins
Certificate: 15
User collections: Stef's Top 100 - A Miscellany | Sweet and Sour | killer comedies- pure fun | Free Range Movies | Films that don't waste your time | My Favourite Films | Mathew Horne's Cool List | A few of my favourites. | Just films I love | Films that change your Life..
Genres: Comedy
Languages: English
Released: 12/11/2001

Brief synopsis of Withnail And I

WITHNAIL AND I is a quirky semiautobiographical account of filmmaker Bruce Robinson's early years as an actor. In 1969 London, two unemployed thespians--Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann)--take a holiday in the Lake District at the home of Withnail's uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths), quite unprepared for what is in store for them, not only involving the locals, but the uncle as well.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

This great little film launched the career of Richard E Grant and has since developed into a cult classic. Those born before 1950 will regard this tale of two dissolute 1960s hippies (Grant and Paul McGann) with unbridled horror. There are empty bottles and dirty underwear everywhere, along with half-finished joints and fag ends stubbed out in congealing boiled eggs. But this is in fact a glorious rite-of-passage movie, as the lads decamp to a cottage in the Lake District where they struggle to survive the weather and a lecherous Uncle Monty. It's written and directed by Bruce Robinson (who wrote the screenplay for The Killing Fields), based on his own experiences in London's Camden Town.

Rating of 3 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Deliberately seedy comedy which settles down as a study of character and contrives to be hard to forget.

Variety

"...The humor is both brutal and clever, and the acting uniformly excellent..."

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 5 starsTotal genius

Moose from Greater London , 12/01/2004

What a wonderful piece of work. Richard E Grant is fantastic as the cowardly alcoholic slob with a casual disregard for others, and the rest of the cast combine to make this a wonderfully enjoyable, fantastically funny piece of film, enjoyable by almost everyone on almost every level. Not one for the kids, obviously, hence the ratings tag and the bad language, but definitely one to make you laugh. Over and over again.

  39 out of 44 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsA classic

A customer from Glasgow , 17/02/2004

This film is proof you don't actually need a plot in order to make a great film. Two rediculously impoverished unemployed actors struggle to make it through each day. They're pushed to the edge when they run out of alcohol and decide to spend a weekend in Withnail's lecherous Uncle Monty's cottage. Belly-laughs ensue as this movie is filled with classic scenes and memorable lines often regurgated by drunken students and a mass of die-hard fans. But underneath the humour its also incredibly touching, particularly the end scene and the performances by Richard E Grant and Paul Mcgann are infallible, particularly amazing as Grant doesn't drink. For anyone who's ever spent a good part of their lives surviving penniless on a diet of fags, booze and drugs this is must-see viewing.

  23 out of 29 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsA film to watch again and again!!

Cityboy3 from Herts , 12/12/2004

Quite the best film I have watched for a long time and one I just had to watch again and then again. With each screening I saw more and more and just loved the characters, the humour and the poignancy. The casting was superb, the direction painstaking in both its detail and its deft touch.

In all a mini classic, so evocative of the time and Grant, McGann and Griffiths were wonderful, as were all the minor characters that come back to mind so easily - the farmer, the publican,the poacher,the policemen, the cafe owner. Wow !!

  14 out of 17 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsWonderful film

NikkiD from Leicestershire , 30/03/2004

Wonderful film - both lead actors were superb throughout. The content was also warming to watch - whilst the film was made in the mid-80's, made one feel very wistful for the long-lost 60's.

  13 out of 15 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 4 starsWhat do you find funny?

A customer from Stourbridge , 19/08/2008

Looking at the reviews for this film (what can I say, its raining and I'm bored) it soon becomes apparent that there are three types of people reviewing Withnail.

Those that loved it seem to have loved it either because they thought they should or because it is truly a brilliant piece of film making. Poigniant, camp and downright hilarious in places with some of the best dialogue in any film, ever.

Those that hated it almost always end up saying that there were a couple of funny bits in it (the chicken in the oven and the bull). I guess that says it all. If you role around helplessly when a Carry on Film is double-billed with Benny Hill then you ain't gonna like this film. If, on the other hand, you like character-driven comedy that is deeper than a simple set-em-up and knock-em-down sit-com style approach and you have an attention span longer than a gnats, then you will almost certainly take some gloriously rich moments of true humour and pathos from the film.

Anyway, must go now, I seem to have written a review by mistake.

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