Withnail & I

Screenwriter Bruce Robinson made his directorial debut with this British comedy. Withnail (Richard E. Grant) is an unsuccessful, pill-popping actor; "I," or Marwood (Paul McGann), is Withnail's roommate and another equally underemployed actor. The time is 1969: Withnail is fast becoming a burned-out ...more

One of the funniest and most original British films in the second half of the 20th century, Withnail & I is a genuine cult classic. Set at the gray, scabby end of the 1960s, the film is a marvelous character study of two "resting" (read: unemployed and possibly unemployable) actors whose bitterness and frustrated hopes mirror the era's soiled, run-down glory. Few films have explored bitterness and filth with more acidic wit, and few actors have given more exuberantly poisonous performances than ...more