Withnail and I - Criterion Collection
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DVD details
Actor: Paul Mcgann, Richard E. GrantBrand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-07-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Criterion
DVD Reviews of Withnail and I - Criterion Collection
DVD Review: One of the Best Films I've Seen in a Long Time
Summary: 5 Stars
A recent addition to Roger Ebert's ongoing Great Movies list, Withnail and I is a quirky, low-budget, buddy-comedy of sorts that has none of the characteristics of a typical cinematic masterpiece but is still one of the best films I've seen in some time.
Richard E. Grant plays Withnail, with Paul McGann playing Marwood (who's never actually called that in the film and is credited as "& I"). Withnail and Marwood are two out of work actors living in squalor in Camden Town, London circa 1969. Constantly drunk, the two decide to escape to the English countryside for a while, by staying at Withnail's gay Uncle Monty's cottage. Things get very interesting when Monty (Richard Griffiths) arrives and shows them his love for life...And his interest for Marwood.
Withnail and I is filled with wry, British humor. Not all of it is laugh-out-loud funny, but all of it is amusing. The performances are all delightful, with McGann perfect as Marwood. Grant however is particularly impressive as Withnail. The character is rarely seen sober or without a cigarette dangling from his lip. Grant plays this character with a certain wide-eyed eccentricity that makes him both loveable and incredibly memorable.
It's a brilliant piece of character acting.
One of the things that make Withnail and I so enduring is the scenes. The film admittedly doesn't have much of a plot to speak of but has more great scenes than even the most complicated film. Not a single scene feels too long or unnecessary and scenes like Marwood confronting a bull or Withnail "making time" to a soundtrack of Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" will remain in your memory.
The film is filled with grin-inducing dialogue and hilarious situations, notably when Monty attempts to convince Marwood that Marwood is gay and to avoid an unpleasant situation, Marwood must convince Monty he actually is.
Beneath all the drugs, alcohol, and cursing; Withnail and I also manages to touch on universal themes, like friendship. And, let it be known, this is a great movie about friendship. Withnail and Marwood are a sort of alcoholic, witty, British Butch and Sundance.
Despite its low budget and nothing stand-out by way of cinematography, set-design, or anything like that, Withnail and I is a brilliantly scripted and acted film that deserves a large audience. Entertaining, funny, and brilliant.
GRADE: A
DVD Review: Yes, No, and Maybe: England's Great Cult Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Some humor doesn't really transcend the culture that spawned it, and such is sometimes the case with the extremely English WITHNAIL AND I, an extremely witty, highly quoteable, and exceptionally toxic tale of two alcohol-swilling, drug popping, and out-of-work young actors who go an extremely ill-advised weekend vacation in 1969 England. Often labled as a "black comedy," it is very black indeed, asking us to be amused by a series of highly unsympathetic characters who really have no one to blame for their misfortunes except themselves.
The film is more character portrait than plot, and the portrait upon which it hinges is Withnail (Richard E. Grant), a clearly talented but completely unrestrained entity who is going to hell with a bottle in hand and taking his friend Marwood (Paul McGann) along for the ride. Both are coming off a sixty-hour spree, find themselves depressed by their wildly sordid quarters and the vulgarities of London, and at Marwood's prompting decide to take a break.
They impose upon Withnail's uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths), described as a "raving homosexual," for the use of his country place--but once there find it isolated, decayed, without provisions, and surrounded by an extremely unattractive assortment of rural locals. Unbeknownst to Marwood, Withnail has actually secured use of the country place by telling Uncle Monty that Marwood is gay; not surprisingly, Uncle Monty eventually shows up with food, drink, and lust in his heart. Needless to say, one awful incident leads to another before Withnail and Marwood return to London, where a twist of fate leads them to a final parting of the ways.
The actors are truly the thing here. Grant is a knock-out as Withnail, spewing arrogance and viciousness, and making outrageous use of everyone who comes his way in brilliant comic fashion; McGann holds his own as the more sensible but easily led Marwood. Griffiths is quite clever in his deeply ironic role of a profoundly silly homosexual who unexpectedly proves the only person in the cast to have any sense of integrity, and Ralph Brown scores in the role of ultra-dense yet oddly intelligent drug dealer Danny. But the whole film is so remarkably poisonous that it becomes increasingly difficult to relate, much less sympathize, with the various characters. The conclusion is uniquely bitter, a portent of an alcoholic hell yet to come.
On the whole, I do recommend the film, and the Criterion Edition is quite fine, with a handsome making-of documentary that traces the history of the film. But it is worth pointing out that a cult film is one that provokes an unexpectedly positive response in a MINORITY of viewers--and you may or may not be among them.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
DVD Review: Interesting!
Summary: 5 Stars
You have to like British men and bad teeth to like this movie. And you must watch it at least twice to get it. It really is a very funny movie, you just need the right sense of humor to appreciate it. Not everyone will understand....DVD Review: Hilarious and heartbreaking
Summary: 5 Stars
Withnail and I is a film that got in under my radar; I simply hadn't heard of it until recently. After I did IMDB and Google searches on it, I knew it was "my kind" of movie, and I bought the DVD without having ever seen it. It is, if possible, even a better film than I was expecting.
The direction and performances are first-rate, and the script is wonderful. Based on only two viewings (there will be many more), Withnail and I is in my personal top twenty movies.
DVD Review: Hilarious...
Summary: 5 Stars
British film set in London in the 1960's. Withnail (played by Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) are aspiring actors. Both are unemployed and penniless and seemingly always in search of drink. The live in a dirty bachelor pad with the sink filled with dirty dishes, a bathtub filled with who-knows-what and the pitter-patter of rodents ever present. They seeks ways to stay warm as their money has run out. Withnail, the leader of the two, rails over life's injustices. Marwood is the more balanced of the two and tags along - worried and anxious. Withnail's rich, rotund and eccentric Uncle Monty lends them the use of his cottage in the country and they head out for a road trip in a blinding rain storm. They arrive at the cottage - and it is cold, without food or fire wood. Uncle Monty arrives unexpectedly and begins to woo Marwood. (Withnail told Uncle Monty that Marwood is a homosexual in his efforts to get use of the cottage).
If you liked "Midnight Run" or "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", you likely enjoy this hilarious film which is replete with memorable one-liners.
Description of Withnail and I - Criterion Collection
London. The 60s. Two unemployed actors-acerbic, elegantly wasted Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the anxiety-ridden "I" (Paul McGann)-drown their frustrations in booze, pills, and lighter fluid. When Withnail's Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) offers his cottage, they escape the squalor of their flat for a week in the country. They soon realize they've gone on holiday by mistake when their wits-and friendship-are sorely tested by violent downpours, less-than-hospitable locals, and empty cupboards. An intelligent, superbly acted, and hilarious film, The Criterion Collection is proud to present Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical cult favorite in its complete and uncut version.A corrosively funny, semiautobiographical account by writer-director Bruce Robinson (How to Get Ahead in Advertising) about a couple of destitute roommates, young actors living in drunken squalor in 1969, the twilight days of swingin' London. Withnail (the astounding Richard E. Grant in a definitive performance) is a kind of depraved, modern-day Oscar Wilde, but without the money or the manners. The "I" of the title is the younger and more impressionable Marwood (Paul McGann), who stands somewhat in awe of his scandalous, demented, hysterical pal. While on a miserable holiday in the bitterly cold and damp countryside, they stay with wealthy, corpulent "Uncle Monty" (Richard Griffiths), who takes quite a liking to young Marwood, much to his consternation. Though not well known in the United States, Withnail & I has a major cult following in England. It's uproariously funny in a peculiarly British way, and the acting is absolutely scintillating. (Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert said Griffiths's was the best performance by an actor in a British film since Denholm Elliott in A Room with a View.) This one's a real treat for the caustic at heart. --Jim Emerson
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