Roger Ebert loved this film: he put in his third book of Great Movies and was fond of quoting Withnail as a reference for so many misbegotten characters in life. Richard E Grant is one of the greatest character actors of all time, so saying that his greatest role was one of the first he ever did might seem to extreme but even he acknowledged it was his landmark accomplisment upon accepting a Spirit award for "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"