Withnail and I/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Ho Yay: Made pretty much canon by Withnail getting 'carried away' when he told Monty that Marwood was a "toilet trader" who was in love with him.
  • Tear Jerker: Monty's farewell letter to "his boys" is incredibly sad, but the sight of a despairing Withnail trudging away in the rain is haunting.
    • While not in the film itself, the published script has one in it's foreword. In it Bruce Robinson recounts tales of himself and Vivian (the man Withnail is based on) back in the 60s. It's all fun and games untill the final paragraph, where it drops the line "And I Can't Believe Vivian is Dead. He got Cancer of the throat and they tore his voice out." The rest is absolutely heartbreaking.
  • Vindicated by History: Screwed by the Network and ignored in the cinema, Robinson said "Thank Christ for VHS and late-night TV" for making the film a cult classic.
  • The Woobie:
    • Marwood for most of the film.
    • Withnail becomes one as well towards the end, especially with his heartbreaking, awesomely spoken "What piece of work is a man" speech, with only the wolves to see it.