I picked this up on a whim at the library, because Venice was featured on the cover. And it was better than I expected.

I’ve been watching some bad movies lately. But Withnail and I is different.

While I was watching it at first, I wasn’t laughing. I wondered for the first half-hour, how can this be on Channel 4’s 50 Greatest Comedy Films List? What I wasn’t counting on was that the movie was building an onion from the inside out. It piled on layer after layer of absurdity. It needed time to build.

And it did. I laughed at the poacher and Uncle Monty. Both Withnail and I were well acted, but Richard Griffiths stole the movie with Uncle Monty. I’m really coming to appreciate his acting more and more—Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies is hardly all he can do.

I’ll be watching this again. Now, GET IN THE VAN!

The whole time I was watching the movie, I kept thinking that the guy playing the Punisher, Thomas Jane, looked familiar. So I went to imdb.com and looked him up. Nope. Nothing familiar. Just my imagination playing tricks.

The movie was kind of a dog in some ways, but it did keep me entertained.

QNI is Latin for WTF.

There, I’ve just said something “smart” about the movie.

But really. QNI? What was up? I just watched this movie and can’t decide whether it was a good idea or not. I laughed a lot but don’t really feel good about it. Did the movie try to make points about race and gender in today’s America? Or was it too stupid for that? Am I stupid for thinking that’s a legitimate thing to ask about a movie like this?

I don’t know. I laughed anyway, so on that level it was a success.

My wife and I almost saw this movie. We saw the first forty minutes anyway. So why didn’t we see all of it? (Don’t worry, I want to see the rest of it, but I’m marking it as “consumed” so I can post a story.)

Since our baby arrived, we’ve had some really hit or miss times at the movies. The only movie we’ve seen together in the theater since the baby was born in June was The Kingdom. Not the greatest movie. Nonetheless, we keep trying.

Anyway, last night—a very cold night here—there was a fire alarm about thirty minutes in, so we along with everyone else left the theater. Then, since nothing was obviously on fire, everyone went back in and the movie resumed. About ten minutes after that, the theater manager on duty informed us that the theater indeed would be closing for the evening and that we could get free passes for another showing.

So everyone left again. Somehow on the way out, we managed to get four free passes when we should’ve gotten two. Oops. They were handing them out in big rolls, and my wife and I, each thinking we needed to get passes, got separated in the crowd. Hence four passes. We now have two more date nights prepaid at the theater. I promised her that she could pick the movie on both occasions. Anyone want to babysit?

I first started watching this as a straight movie. It was bad. Just awful. Low budget, poor acting (lots of mumbling actors musicians), implausible story, people breaking out into song.

Then I started watching it as a (long) music video. Much, much, much better. Great songs, fun interaction between the musicians, interesting look at the process of making music, and of course Ireland itself.

The whole time I was watching this I kept thinking, “This would be so much better as a comic book.” Then I kept thinking, “Hmm, some cool elements here, but overall, a steaming pile.”

Glad I didn’t waste the money at the theater. This story is lugubrious, has inexplicable plot points, and is uninspired. Even the “forbidden love” in the story isn’t so much forbidden, but stupid and short-sighted selfishness. I was with the movie (somewhat reluctantly) until they got back from the tournament in Ireland. After that, pure schlock.

Schlockbuster.

That’s my new word for movies that have an enormous budget but are still awful. This movie has many disappointing parallels with Superman IV, which I watched recently. The notable exception is that Superman IV had it’s budget pulled.

This movie is chock full o’ good actors, a too short running time and a potentially cool story notion, but it fails. Hard. There are gaping story holes, which were painfully apparent. It was based in a fantasy world that seemed to not have been thought out past the lens of the camera. I really hope the book was better (no, it has to be).

I don’t know why studios do this kind of movie: it doesn’t make me want to shell out hard-earned money at the theater. Thank goodness for Netflix and the library.

You know that turn. From so awful to so awful it’s good.

This movie almost made it, but fell short of the glory.

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I watched the commentary too. One of the writers did the commentary and, so it seemed to me, apologized for how awful this movie was. Apparently it was supposed to be higher budget (read: better special effects), but the production company cheaped out.