British humor can be very deceptive. You have the outright nonsense of the Monty Python crew, and then you have the biting witticism of a screenplay as is found in "Withnail and I". It's difficult to say whether you can enjoy a film like this or not; it's just a bit too dark and seamy for entertainment purposes, but it finds it's rewards in other ways. There's a sense of rambling about with the story line, introducing deficient characters along the way to complement the antics of Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and friend Marwood (Paul McGann), the celebrated 'and I' of the picture. For a couple of characters having to operate from the wrong side of the tracks, their fate is virtually all down hill from there, thereby counterpointing the understated humor with a very real sense of sadness and melancholy. The pacing of the film may be somewhat slow and tedious for some viewers, not to mention the paucity of a plot, but for those with the patience, this is a movie that satisfies the discriminating viewer with it's prescient dialog and incorrigible wit.
Review of Withnail & I
