Inexplicable Movie Review: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

"Don't shoot, we're not a real tiger!"

Yeah, I realize this movie review of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life kind of comes out of left field. But hey, I saw it again recently, and I still enjoy it. In fact, I daresay that it is my favorite Monty Python movie, although it does lag quite behind Flying Circus in the grand scheme of great Python work.

Focusing on the movie first, it is a loose film that has a slew of skits that cover the period of time from cradle to grave. Birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age and death are all covered, with commentary on politics, religion and British and American people along the way.

The most memorable skit in terms of the Python canon (if there is such a thing) occurs about an hour into the film, when the fat Mr. Creosote eats so much at a restaurant, he could explode - literally. When I was a kid, my aunt would explain this scene to me, and even that didn't really properly do it justice. Keeping in mind that this is very not safe for work, or for your stomach, the YouTube link is here. Other classic scenes include Death coming to dinner, and another NSFW clip of their tune "Every Sperm Is Sacred."

However, I like the movie for the more subtle jabs throughout. For example, one scene focuses on gentile British military officers fighting in the Zulu, African outback expressing surprise about how another troop's leg got taken... off... during the night. One suggests that a tiger might have done it, which causes another to exclaim, "A tiger in Africa?" Response: "... Well maybe it escaped from the zoo."

This is why Meaning of Life ranks higher on my personal Monty Python list than Life of Brian (I'm a heathen and get almost none of the religious references) and The Holy Grail, my second favorite. Holy Grail is more "on the nose" when it comes to the nerdy humor though. I feel like I'm being knocked over the head (or maybe more appropriately, slapped across the cheek with a fish) when it comes to the humor.

Of course, all of the Python movies pale in comparison to Flying Circus sketches, which I allude to at the beginning of my post. I will say though that individual episodes can be very spotty - Once Cleese leaves the show, it definitely loses a lot, since he is the best individual performer of the group. Also, the first 10 episodes or so are quite rough, before hitting a stride in the teens and twenties. At this point, most of the iconic sketches - the ministry of silly walks, the lumberjack song, Ethel the Frog / The Piranha Brothers - start getting aired. If you want a good "collection" of the best sketches, I'd recommend looking around a bit for Live from the Hollywood Bowl, which I purchased from Blockbuster (on VHS!) a couple years ago for $1. It's also, thankfully, available on DVD from Amazon.

My personal favorite, even though it is a bit sick, is still the undertaker's sketch. The punch line is ridiculously good, and as a YouTube commenter notes, this is a dark, dark skit, even for Python.