Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain is a dark buddy comedy for the ages. The film is deservedly in the running for multiple Oscars, thanks to its winning combination of anarchic situational humor, cringe-worthy clashes, and heartfelt bonding. A Real Pain‘s cast is led by Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, playing polar opposite cousins traveling through Poland following their grandmother’s death. Those who would enjoy another movie with the same subversive style and meaningful sense of humor may now look to Prime Video for Withnail and I, a tour de force of bellyaching British humor.
The main characters of Withnail and I are in circumstances not unlike Benji’s (Culkin) in A Real Pain. Before Eisenberg’s David delivers his incredible A Real Pain monologue, he alludes to Benji having spent most of his adulthood living in his mom’s basement and “smok[ing] pot all day.” Withnail and I stars Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as two unemployed 30-something actors in the 1960s. What’s more, just like Benji and David, Withnail and his roommate take advantage of a relative’s benevolence to go on a trip and learn about their cultural heritage.
Withnail & I Is A Forgotten Classic In The Buddy Comedy Genre
It’s One Of The All-Time Great Comedy Movies
With its ingenious employment of hyperbolic simile and a show-stealing comedic turn from Richard Griffiths as Uncle Monty, Bruce Robinson’s Withnail and I is a certified British comedy classic that raised the bar for buddy comedies. What its two protagonists lack in money, life skills, and any sense of purpose or direction, they make up for in charming naivety, a completely misguided appeтιтe for adventure, and hilariously unrelenting pessimism. Once Withnail convinces Uncle Monty to lend them his cottage in the Lake District for a weekend, sheer chaos ensues, as the two clueless Londoners get pushed far beyond their wits by country living.
This set-up makes for farcical encounters with unsuspecting Cumbrian locals, and some extraordinarily funny one-liners. No other comedy in history has been able to deliver the pure comic poetry of Withnail and I‘s best dialogue. Lines like a farmer’s description of Withnail “prancing about like a тιт,” or Withnail’s own description of a hangover — “I feel like a pig s**t in my head,” — are surely some of the funniest ever uttered on the big screen. But if there’s one other movie that captures this spirit of hapless but thematically purposeful mischief-making, it’s A Real Pain.
A Real Pain Shares Withnail & I’s Sense Of Humor
They Both Derive Their Laughs From Clashes Of Personality & Culture
Like the “I” who narrates Withnail and I, A Real Pain‘s David is at once infuriated by, embarrᴀssed of, and in thrall to his loose cannon of a travel companion. Both characters are cautious and eternally pessimistic, yet somehow end up getting dragged into every escapade that Withnail or Benji, now an Oscar frontrunner role for Kieran Culkin, embark upon. Whether it’s procuring some ᴅᴇᴀᴅ game from the local lakeside pub or fleeing the ticket officer on a Polish train, there’s nothing David or “I” would rather be doing less. But they end up doing it anyway, much to our delight and amusement.
Neither Withnail nor Benji has the slightest regard for manners in a public space, or for problems their actions cause “I” and David. Their unabashed outspokenness and irreverent contempt for social norms and cultural traditions grate against the inclination of their friends towards discretion and introversion, with spectacular results. For all the humor that comes out of these clashes, though, they also produce some surprisingly moving moments at the end of A Real Pain and Withnail and I.
Withnail Is Like A British Version Of Benji From The 1960s
They Share The Same Approach To Life, & It’s Left Them In Similar Places
The similarities between Withnail and Benji, in particular, can’t be overstated. Withnail has wasted his privileged education and obvious acting talent, resulting in the situation Withnail and I depicts. Likewise, Benji has wasted his joie de vivre, supreme confidence, and considerable social skills to end up without any real livelihood to speak of. The difference is that Withnail and I is set in the 1960s, when actors could more likely afford to scrape by on unemployment benefits. Benji doesn’t have that option, and his dire situation almost cost him his life in the months leading up to his trip with David.
There might be an element of tragedy in how they ended up where they are, but they still manage to have plenty of fun regardless of the place they’re in.
At the same time, both Withnail and I and A Real Pain showed these troubled characters making the best of the lot in life they’ve come to. There might be an element of tragedy in how they ended up where they are, but they still manage to have plenty of fun regardless of the place they’re in. They provide the ultimate life lesson for their buddies in the process and comedy fans with a barrel load of laughs.
