Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Withnail and I

(1987)

Here is a movie with a cult following that we just couldn’t get into. I understand it’s based on fact. Halfway through I realized I just didn’t want to spend any more time with these assholes, drinking and drugging themselves to death. I had the same problem with Leaving Las Vegas. I don’t object to a depressing story, but it needs a little more than the simple premise that a man has deliberately decided to drink himself to death. This was Richard E. Grant’s first movie, where he first developed the manic, driven, hyper-verbal character that can work well (How to Get Ahead in Advertising) or drive me crazy.