Written and directed by a first-timer and starring a pair that had never even headlined a feature before, it's something of a miracle that Withnail And I turned out as well as it did. It doesn't feel like Bruce Robinson's debut, nor does it seem like Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann arrived as anything other than stars of the screen. Withnail And I isn't just a wickedly funny film full of brilliantly bitter one-liners ("Look at that, 'Accident Black Spot' - these aren't accidents, they're throwing themselves into the road gladly"), it's also an evocative, painterly drawing of 1960s England. Robinson exposes us to a time of cheap booze, crumbling buildings and high unemployment, complete with all the hilarity that suggests. Withnail And I may end on a sour note, but Robinson's beautifully caustic dialogue is to be savoured over and over again. No other film will make you want a misanthropic alcoholic as a friend more.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
