[Movies] Monty Python and the Meaning of Life

Practically right on the heels of my review for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I decided to download the rest of the Python films and first jumped off to watch Monty Python's the Meaning of Life, which was technically the last Monty Python film ever released. It came out back in 1983, which was pretty much the year after I was born.

I can't say that it's my favorite Python film - that spot is reserved solely for the Holy Grail, this film has its own merits and interesting bits like all other Python films. I suppose with this one the need for linearity was totally thrown out the window and it was mostly a cheap excuse to connect all these sketches together. Then again, who ever said Monty Python needed to make sense?

The Meaning of Life is a loose attempt to address that age-old question of what the meaning of life is supposed to be. They do this by covering different aspects of human life and in the end leave it to us to figure things out. As typical of other Monty Python films, it's not necessarily a linear piece that has a clear-cut beginning and end but more of a loose path they try to follow. As they follow the path, there are interesting stops along the way that don't have anything to do with the other stops but are still worth stopping for.

Am I making sense?

Anyway, that's the best I can do to explain how a Monty Python film attacks linearity. The sketches are still pretty good but nowhere near as good as those on the original show, which is quite a shame, really. I did find myself laughing, giggling and chuckling at various points in the movie but still not quite as much as I'd hope to be.

In terms of Python films, this is the one with the most gratuitous nudity, mostly in the form of breasts left and right. It felt a bit too Benny Hill for me at in that respect, but then they were trying to poke fun at the kinds of movies that were in fact selling at the time. There was also the really tricky song about saving our sperm, which was sung by a chorus of young girls and boys. Interestingly enough, it turns out they didn't actually know what they were singing about at the time.

Yes, yes, the Monty Python blokes are THAT cheeky.

Of the three Monty Python films, I can't help but tag this as rank #3 in comparison to the two prior films, but that doesn't mean this is a comedy movie that's not seeing if you want a taste of British humor.