Withnail & I

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Generally speaking, I'm a pretty big fan of British comedy. But sometimes a title comes along that's pretty well-renowned as something that almost should be much more up my alley than it ends up being. 'Withnail & I' happens to be one of these movies. Let me be clear that I didn't hate, or even really dislike it. But it's a very well-reviewed title, the concept sounded fun, and upon this first viewing, I came out of it just kind of shrugging my shoulders at it. It's a good movie, I just didn't fall in love with it like so many others.

The story here involves The exuberant Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the rather pensive Marwood (Paul McGann); two unemployed, actors living together in a nightmarish flat in Camden Town, London, in 1969. A fairly hardcore drug dealer by the name of Danny (Ralph Brown) is their only visitor, and it's not long before the pair feel cooped up enough that they want a holiday. The destination is a rural cottage owned by Withnail's Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths), to which Monty eventually gives Withnail the key. Soon, the pair find themselves in what could very well be a worse situation than being cooped up in their mess of a flat all day.

Upon their arrival, they find the cottage to be in bad shape and without any provisions, the locals to be unpleasant - namely a rough-looking poacher named Jake (Michael Elphick), and the weather to be very dreary for their stay. Not surprisingly, it ends up being a situation where everything bad about their stay keeps escalating. Such situations include having to cook a chicken, dealing with a potential stalker, and of course, each other. But while I may shrug this one off a bit more than others, I can certainly appreciate what makes it "one of Britain's biggest cult films", according to the BBC.

I think my biggest takeaway from this is the idea that the grass isn't always "greener" on the other side of the fence. However, that's more of a surface thing. This also has a lot to do with the strained friendship of the titular twosome. And without spoiling too much, I'll just say that the way this ends almost defines "bittersweet" and pretty relatable, on the whole. For me, it's actually the way this ends that makes it worth the watch. In its own right, it's a bit of a work of art - cliche as that may sound. So believe me when I say that I can most certainly appreciate this one for what it is.

With all that said, however, I'm not sure why it didn't quite stick out for me. It's something I feel like I need to give a few viewings before really enjoying it, which is not unheard of for me. Even 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', which I now consider my favourite comedy of all time, was a movie I thought had a "bunch of boring scenes". Nowadays, if you skip those same scenes, I feel like I want to lecture you on why those scenes are hilarious. I do get the impression that with enough viewings, this one could also grow on me quite easily. It's definitely not without the dark humour I appreciate so much, and the cherry on top of it all is Ralph Brown.

For those of you who may not be able to place Ralph Brown, check out 'Wayne's World 2' again - he played Del Preston, Jim Morrison's former roadie. If you recall the character, you'll remember how funny he is, and this is basically the exact same character. Del Preston could totally be Danny, and that's actually kinda fun to think about. For yours truly, his brief appearances are the real comedic highlights of the movie. I will go ahead and recommend this to try out if you're into any sort of underground British comedy. As I said, even after all my praise for it, there's still a little something I don't quite get that others seem to. But again, I don't think this will be my one and only viewing.

​3/5

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