Yar, you be here: Monty Python's Life of Brian > Customer Reviews
Monty Python's Life of Brian Customer Reviews (10 - 12 of 25 Reviews)
The Funniest Movie Ever Made....
....That isn't an early Mel Brooks or Richard Lester movie! This film pretty much made me a fan of the Pythons, leading me to go see a retrospective of theirs including "And Now For Something Completely Different", "Jabberwocky" and "Monty Python & The Holy Grail". By far the most ingenious and well written thing they've done since and maybe SLIGHTLY funnier than "Grail", this movie makes fun of zealotry, hypocrisy, decadence, dumb luck and history, all in one fell swoop!
The movie generally involves a case of mistaken identity that affects a Nazarene named Brian, born on the same day as, and right downstream from, you-know-who. This mistake affects Brian's life through the course of the entire movie, even after he joins a fanatic sect of Roman-hating terrorists. Though the Wise Men who mistook him for Jesus early in the film corrected themselves, Brian still has a hard time convincing the sheepish, desperate people who follow him everywhere that he isn't a messiah while trying to escape Roman capture.
Cleese, Idle and Palin especially shine in this film, playing many disparate parts...Cleese as 1) A Roman centurion, 2) Reg, the leader of a terrorist faction Brian happens onto, and 3) A high priest/Pharisee/Sadducee - whatever, holding a zany trial for someone who has said the Lord's name in vain; Idle as: 1) Stan, a terrorist with gender identity problems, 2) A crazy but extremely lucky guy who never gets crucified though he's due for it, 3) A guy who taunts a fellow at the sermon on the mount by repeatedly calling him "Bignose" and 4) A stuttering gravedigger; Palin plays: 1) Pontius Pilate, 2) a particularly zealous member of the terrorist band Brian joins, 2)A squirrelly beggar complaining about being cured, 3) a VERY mild-mannered head counter at Brian's crucifiction, 4) The guy Idle taunts at the sermon on the mount and 5) A verbose false prophet. Even Chapman, the one playing Brian, assays the roll of Biggus Dickus, the lisping friend of Pontius Pilate as well as the hapless "Red Sea pedestrian" himself. Terry Jones plays Brian's mother and an ascetic who has his vow of silence ruined by Brian stepping on his foot.
When I first saw this movie, I didn't remember laughing so much since seeing Richard Lester's "Help!" and "Hard Day's Night" at the Circle In The Square up in Greenwich Village. A true masterpiece of zany comedy as only the British seem able to do it.
Wouldn't it be great to see either Rowan Atkinson's or "Grant/Naylor's" take on religion? The possibilities are endless!
funny but wheres Bodge?
This is a very funny movie. It takes place int he Stone Age. About a guy named Brian and this is his life. Most of the humor is because his name is brian and people confuse him for somebody else. "I'm not so anso I'm Brian." Also there is a very funny moment when a man says his wife is called Continual Buttocks (a butocks is a bottom) or soemthing. Some of the humor is called toilet humor that I'm not a fan of. My friends and I only thought that Bodge would have looked great in this film with his beard and BRITISH accent!!! Where was he? He would have been perfect!
Holy Hilarity!
Life of Brian is not as well known by the movie going public as Monty Python?s classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", but it is definitely is as, or maybe even funnier than Holy Grail. This is especially true for people who are familiar with the Biblical stories it pokes fun at. It is perfect satire, for nothing is sacred and everything is a joke.
The story revolves around Brian, a very unlucky resident of Judea who just happened to be born the same day the Christ child was born. Missing his chance at glory, Brian lives his life selling animal parts at the Coliseum, dominated by a violent mother who is very "friendly" to the Roman occupiers. The rest of Brian's environment is inhabited by a very wild bunch. The neo- or archo-Marxist group, the People's Front of Judea, battles the Romans daily by holding meeting after violent meeting, plotting against the legions and their arch rivals, the Judean People's Front. The Romans, on the other hand, are led by the Pontius Pilate, who, contrary to Biblical reports, has quite a lisp and an endearing sense of stupidity. When Brian rebels against his mother and joins up with the wild band of revolutionaries, his life is changed forever. Quite by accident, Brian is then thought to be the messiah, although he is quite reluctant in his leadership.
Satirically, this movie is absolutely ruthless. Everything is skewered, everything. The performances are all fantastic, especially that of John Cleese, who is just the man in this movie, playing about six separate characters. Joke after joke hits the viewer, which results in just non-stop humor. It's just a wonderful movie by the Python pioneers who really revolutionized comedy. The Criterion DVD edition is great, with tons of hilarious extras that are worth the price on their own. To the people that use this to either justify their atheism or believe it to be an attack on their religion, calm down. It's a comedy for God's sake, why do the opinions of some British comedians affect your outlook on life? Just laugh damn it!
| Previous Page | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | Next Page |
