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DOUBLE VISION A Criterion dual release highlights a brief but brilliant actor-director collaboration BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
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verybody has a friend like Withnail. And everybody’s worked for a Dennis. That’s easy to see. It gets harder when, one day, you stare into the mirror and see either of them looking back. When that day comes, it’s time for a change. Coincidentally, both characters are Withnail (Richard E. Grant) will do anything to get a drink in Withnail and I. Courtesy: The Criterion Collection played by the same actor, Richard E. I love Withnail and I for all the wrong does his drinking partner, flatmate and felGrant, in the two movies of significance reasons and some of the right ones. low aspiring thespian, I (Paul McGann). from writer-director Bruce Robinson. Grant is so good in it, so believable, that The “I” is important. Withnail is Conveniently, both have been restored Robinson’s memoir of the period in his life you would be excused for thinking the and will be available on home video from movie captures an exorcism and not a when he couldn’t get a job and spent his The Criterion Collection this May. Let the performance. But Grant is a teetotaler days at the bottom of a bottle with a connections begin. chain-smoking boozehound who really did allergic to alcohol, which makes his I doubt Robinson, an actor turned filmWithnail one of the greatest pieces of actdrink lighter fluid in a fit of desperation. maker, pitched Withnail and I (1987) and ing in all of cinema. Not that you need that nugget of biograHow to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) As to why How to Get Ahead in phy to believe the movie. Every frame of as a true double feature, but watch them Advertising’s legacy hasn’t received the Withnail excretes authenticity. It’s what in tandem and you’ll find Robinson and burnish Withnail has, the answer might makes the movie so damn enjoyable, Grant riding the same wave all the way to again be Grant. It’s as if he and even if it does verge perilously close to the end. Oh, and here’s one more conRobinson conspired to make Withnail so homophobia and derelict chic. nection: Both films are set at the close of a decade — 1960s for Withnail and 1980s for Advertising — with little nostalgia looking back and less optimism peering forward. I’m starting to make these movies sound like a couple of downers. They are, in a way, but they’re so suffused with life that they are undeniably hilarious and cling to the ribs long after the lights come up. Of the two, Withnail and I has achieved cult status. Here, Grant plays an out-ofwork actor and a professional alcoholic. He’s an angry young man railing against everyone and everything but nothing in particular. He comes from money, Dennis (Richard E. Grant) comes face to face with his greatest enemy in How to Get Ahead in Advertising. Courtesy: The which fuels his habit, as Criterion Collection BOULDER WEEKLY
detestable the audience couldn’t help but find him endearing. For Advertising, they went for the jugular with Grant playing Dennis, a cynical ad executive who can sell anything but can’t, for the life of him, come up with a compelling pimple cream campaign. So Dennis pulls a 180, decides to quit the field and tell the world how men like him have corrupted every aspect of existence in the name of consumerism. But then a boil appears on Dennis’ clavicle, one that eventually grows a mouth and starts talking to him. Dennis tries everything he can to rid himself of the demonic boil, but it grows until it’s the size of Dennis’ head, complete with a thin-lip mustache. To add insult to injury, Dennis’ initial head is reduced to a small boil on his shoulder, forced to play witness to evil Dennis’ conquest. Advertising is a Jekyll and Hyde riff, and it’s as subtle as a kick to the groin. Dennis (both evil Dennis and less-evil Dennis) gives a lot of speeches about commerce, and Grant delivers them with conviction — particularly his hysterical climax in an English field that closes Advertising — but they sunk the movie upon release. I enjoy them for their unapologetic didacticism, but I also know a lot of people really detest being preached to when they go to the movies. Sadly, those speeches haven’t aged one iota in the past 35 years. How to Get Ahead in Advertising would mark the last time Grant and Robinson worked together, a remarkable collaboration that began just two years prior with Withnail and I. A pity. They should have made dozens. At least we have these.
ON SCREEN: Withnail and I and How to Get Ahead in Advertising will be released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection on May 20. MAY 22, 2025
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