Two out-of-work actors, Withnail and Marwood, embark on a disastrous alcohol fueled holiday in the English countryside where they constantly assure everyone that they are not from London.
"Withnail & I" is the very blackest of British comedy, and a sort of very English "Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas". Carrying forward the tradition of "The Young Ones"_ into the '90s, these are slakers before that was a thing - with the unique spins that only England could put on the idea.
Richard Grant delivers a tour-de-force performance as the flamboyant, alcoholic Withnail. His character is a study in contrasts. He is both a charming and repulsive force of pure chaos. Paul McGann is equally effective as the more level-headed "I", dragged along on Withnail's wild adventure.
The film's humor is dark, witty, and often self-deprecating. But the film also slips seamlessly into the truly frustrating, tragic and sad. The characters' struggles with the meaninglessness of the trappings of modern (late '80s) life are conveyed with a biting irony.
This is definitely one to revisit soon.
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