Critic Reviews
87
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
positive
19(86%)
mixed
3(14%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 22 Critic Reviews
100
Grant's delivery of mordant mutterings is superb. The lines, from Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical script, are an oddball joy and mostly involve drink and the inevitable hangover.
100
Withnail & I has an air of authenticity only reality could give, and Robinson could only tell MacKerrell's story once. There could never be another Withnail.
100
It had a miraculously literate script whose every line deservedly became a quotable classic and the film boasts a once-in-a-lifetime combination of perfect performances from Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant as the loafing actors heading for a terrible bucolic weekend, Ralph Brown as drug-dealing Danny and Richard Griffiths as predatory Uncle Monty.
100
It’s Robinson’s mastery of tone that makes Withnail endure
100
Fans can mouth the words of Grant's big speeches along with him, relishing every viperish turn of phrase...this is and always will be a perfect dark comedy and a student staple.
100
Conveys the experience of being drunk so well that the only way I could improve upon it would be to stand behind you and hammer your head with two-pound bags of frozen peas.
100
Will Richard E Grant ever get a better role than bitter thespian Withnail? Has anyone devised a more iconic comic notion than the Camberwell Carrot? Has any screenplay combined so many quotable lines with such tear-jerking pathos or blatant homophobia?
100
The film can be enjoyed on many levels, including getting just interplanetary on your favorite substance and waiting for the plethora of quotable lines.
100
Bruce Robinson’s tale of two struggling thesps who go on holiday by mistake is one of the greatest films ever made.
100
The wit is sharp . . . and the lament to times past, friendships gone and experiences lost is affecting.
