Withnail and I

Richard E.Grant - Withnail
Paul McGann - Peter Marwood
Richard Griffiths - Monty
Ralph Brown - Danny
Michael Elphick - Jake

Withnail & I is Bruce Robinson’s semi-autobiographical directorial film debut. This nostalgic comedy has developed into an acerbic student cult-classic and is based on Robinson’s own experiences as a young actor living in Camden with deadbeat thespian Vivian MacKerrell and his encounters with the predatory Franco Zeffirelli. Throughout the desperate character study of late-'60s frustration, Richard E. Grant gets the choicest lines in his breakthrough performance and Paul McGann’s is suitably understated.

Two unemployed actors rooming together in Camden Town during 1969, "I'', or Marwood (Paul McGann) is a young drifter, Withnail (Richard E. Grant) is his eccentric, selfish roommate, both are very much children of the Sixties. Fed up with London, they decide to embark upon a disastrous weekend in the countryside in their decrepit Jag in the hope of finding rejuvenation. All does not go according to plan when the two arrive to find their new home a run-down farmhouse. The Lake District vacation turns into hilarious comedy when they are faced with such dilemmas as having to kill a chicken for dinner, an extra dimension is added when Withnail’s homosexual uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) arrives with amorous intentions towards Marwood.