Withnail and I (1987)
Movie rating: 6/10
Critical praise for Withnail and I is off the charts. The British Film Institute named it one of the greatest British films of all time, as have Total Film and Time Out magazines. Roger Ebert gave it a four-star review, included it in his “Great Movies” list, and called Withnail “one of the iconic figures in modern films.” Unfortunately, I felt the movie didn’t quite live up to all the hype. It’s not bad. It’s fine. But it didn’t really meet my expectations.
That verdict parallels the story, which is set in 1969 and follows two unemployed actors, the alcoholic Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and contemplative “I” (Paul McGann, whose character is called Marwood in the script but not in the film) who drive to a rural cottage for a holiday and find it does not meet their own expectations. The weather is cold and rainy, the cottage itself is run-down, and food and fuel are scarce. Withnail’s wealthy uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) eventually joins them, but his sexual desire for Marwood makes the latter increasingly uncomfortable. The only other major character is drug dealer Danny, played by Ralph Brown—an actor most familiar to me as legendary roadie Del Preston in Wayne’s World 2.
The film has some funny moments, from a pub confrontation with an Irishman who calls each of the two leads a “ponce” to Withnail’s (seemingly) ingenious method for drinking and driving while avoiding arrest. A lot of it is down to the actors’ delivery. There are some good songs on the soundtrack, including a couple of Jimi Hendrix classics (“All Along the Watchtower” might be overused in movies now, but to be fair wasn’t when this film was made) and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (inclusion of a Beatles song helped by George Harrison serving as an executive producer). Some of Danny’s drug-addled ramblings are amusing. The film is nicely shot and has some good views of the English countryside.
Despite being a comedy, the film does incorporate some tragic elements. Poverty isn’t often shown in British or American films and Withnail and I does a good job of showing struggling actors leading lives that are the opposite of glamorous. Their apartment is filthy, cramped, and infested with rodents. They barely have enough money to drink at the pub. Attempts at a holiday turn into something of a struggle to survive at the cottage. Monty pressures Marwood for sex, but Griffiths effectively conveys the despair of being a closeted gay man at this time. Britain had only decriminalized homosexual acts in private between men over the age of 21 in 1967, but the idea of gay rights was only starting to enter public consciousness at this time. Withnail at the end offers a moving recitation of the “What a piece of work is a man!” monologue from Hamlet.
For all these enjoyable aspects, the film didn’t knock my socks off. It was enjoyable enough, but the story hardly had me on the edge of my seat. Withnail and Marwood are unemployed actors who go off on an unpleasant would-be holiday in the countryside, then come back to London. You could argue it’s more of a character study. Still, I didn’t come away enthusiastically agreeing that yes, this is one of the greatest British films ever. A decent movie, but overhyped.