Withnail & I
Have you ever been out drinking at a bar, maybe, or at a party and you meet your friend’s obnoxious friend? You know exactly who I mean-he’s loud and crass, he’s sloppy drunk when you get there and he’s fucking hilarious. You don’t know why but this guy is just hilarious and somehow totally likable. By the end of the night, you’ve got your arms around each other, drunkenly telling everyone how much you fuckin’ love this guy. (God willing, you won’t wake up the next day with a funny rash.)
Withnail & I is that guy. It’s a heartwarming tale of two completely intolerable, unemployable British actors: the perma-drunk Withnail and his more low key but equally sloshed flatmate Marwood. Without booze, money and any reason to stay they borrow Withnail’s Uncle Monty’s old cabin. They find themselves in hilariously dire straits almost immediately (a personal favorite moment: “How do we make it die?”) and hi-jinx ensues. For those of us who spent time working in the arts, much of this is painfully familiar. As they say, it’s funny because it’s true. And you’re better off laughing than crying.
Really, the plot synopsis is sort of irrelevant. That’s the beauty of the movie. You’d feel that your hour and a half was totally well spent watching film of these two men just having an evening out, or wandering around their unbelievably filthy flat. The script is endlessly, delightfully quotable but simultaneously smart and bizarre. From scene one I was strongly reminded of Doctor Gonzo and his attorney’s adventures in Las Vegas; the surreal, rambling aspects of their conversation. (Please see the ” growing in the sink” conversation, if you disagree.)
You probably won’t call that guy up for a drink in a week or anything, but you’ll remember him as a decent guy and good for a laugh. That’s very much how I felt at the end of the film.
{ 1 trackback }