Withnail & I
| Year: | 1987 |
| Director: | Bruce Robinson |
| Cast: | Paul McCann, Richard E Grant, Richard Griffiths |
It's hard to understand why this movie is such a cult classic. The beginning looks promising and there are some very funny lines – most of them courtesy of then-newcomer Richard E Grant as Withnail.
But the scripting gets too clever and the story too obscure, and neither protagonist nor the support (Richard Griffiths) seem to have an identifiable point to their motivations.
Withnail and 'I' (Paul McCann) are two slobs and poor actors living in swinging sixties' London. They decide to get away from it all and go to the country to stay in the run down farmhouse of Withnail rich, gay thespian uncle (Griffiths).
Not much else happens apart from a collection of increasingly obscure and pointless occurrences and scenes until they return to London, 'I' cuts his hair off for some reason and leaves, Withnail turning into Shakespeare seeing him off.
Bizarre, but not funny or impactful enough to be classic.
But the scripting gets too clever and the story too obscure, and neither protagonist nor the support (Richard Griffiths) seem to have an identifiable point to their motivations.
Withnail and 'I' (Paul McCann) are two slobs and poor actors living in swinging sixties' London. They decide to get away from it all and go to the country to stay in the run down farmhouse of Withnail rich, gay thespian uncle (Griffiths).
Not much else happens apart from a collection of increasingly obscure and pointless occurrences and scenes until they return to London, 'I' cuts his hair off for some reason and leaves, Withnail turning into Shakespeare seeing him off.
Bizarre, but not funny or impactful enough to be classic.