X
  • 1987
  • R
  • Cineplex Odeon Films
  • 1 h 47 m
  • 1987
  • R
  • Cineplex Odeon Films
  • 1 h 47 m

Summary London 1969 - two 'resting' (unemployed and unemployable) actors, Withnail and Marwood, fed up with damp, cold, piles of washing-up, mad drug dealers and psychotic Irishmen, decide to leave their squalid Camden flat for an idyllic holiday in the countryside, courtesy of Withnail's uncle Monty's country cottage. But when they ge...

Directed By: Bruce Robinson

Written By: Bruce Robinson

  • 1987
  • R
  • Cineplex Odeon Films
  • 1 h 47 m
  • 1987
  • R
  • Cineplex Odeon Films
  • 1 h 47 m

Withnail & I

Metascore Universal Acclaim Based on 18 Critic Reviews
must-see
84
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 16 User Ratings
6.6
My Score
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Where to Watch

Summary London 1969 - two 'resting' (unemployed and unemployable) actors, Withnail and Marwood, fed up with damp, cold, piles of washing-up, mad drug dealers and psychotic Irishmen, decide to leave their squalid Camden flat for an idyllic holiday in the countryside, courtesy of Withnail's uncle Monty's country cottage. But when they ge...

Directed By: Bruce Robinson

Written By: Bruce Robinson

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 18 Critic Reviews
84
83% Positive
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 18 Critic Reviews
84
83% Positive
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Will Richard E Grant ever get a better role than bitter thespian Withnail? Has anyone devised a more iconic comic notion than the Camberwell Carrot? Has any screenplay combined so many quotable lines with such tear-jerking pathos or blatant homophobia?
FULL REVIEW
100
Withnail only gets better with time. Yes, it’s funny, but it’s also tender and sad too, from the arresting sound of Procul Harum’s ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ in the opening scene to the final, rainy farewell between Withnail (Richard E Grant) and his unnamed friend (revealed as ‘Marwood’ in the screenplay and played by Paul McGann) in the last scene in Regent’s Park.
FULL REVIEW
100
Grant's delivery of mordant mutterings is superb. The lines, from Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical script, are an oddball joy and mostly involve drink and the inevitable hangover.
FULL REVIEW
90
Bracing...Withnail and I isn't social history. It's about growing up, almost as if by accident. It's also genuinely funny.
By Vincent Canby FULL REVIEW
80
A garishly macabre vision of a Britain exiting the war years and trying to come of age, it presents a time when society was ridding itself of the shackles of its Best-Of-British conventions, and forging a new path. Sadly though, with any coming of age tale there are those who are unable to grow at the same rate. Withnail is one of those, too happy to take all the pleasures, and never wake up to reality.
By Joe Walsh FULL REVIEW
67
Withnail And I works as a comedy, but it's a comedy of desperation, and the ever-present specter of failure, overdose, and addiction haunting its leads lends it an aura of lyrical sadness.
By Nathan Rabin FULL REVIEW
50
It's difficult to see, too, what exactly all of this has to do with the twilight of the '60s. With his frequent sentimental allusions to the end of an era, Robinson seems to be grasping for a profundity that his anecdotal reminiscences don't merit or really need. Marwood, the film implies, will leave this life behind and go on to great things, while Withnail will be mired in it forever, a forgotten Falstaff to Marwood's striding Prince Hal. Self- dramatization is one thing; self-Shakespearization is something else. [10 July 1987, p.C]
By Dave Kehr FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 16 User Ratings
6.6
50% Positive
8 Ratings
44% Mixed
7 Ratings
6% Negative
1 Rating

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 16 User Ratings
6.6
50% Positive
8 Ratings
44% Mixed
7 Ratings
6% Negative
1 Rating

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Cineplex Odeon Films, HandMade Films
Release Date Jun 19, 1987
Duration 1 h 47 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline You are cordially invited to spend a funny weekend in the English countryside. (US poster)
Website http://www.handmadefilms.film/
View All Details

Awards

Evening Standard British Film Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Torino International Festival of Young Cinema
• 1 Nomination

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