MovieChat Forums > The Meaning of Life (1983) Discussion > First time viewer...first Monty Python m...

First time viewer...first Monty Python movie....

posted 9 years ago by ActionJunkie007
7 replies | jump to latest

..and I have to say... I LOVED IT!! I quite enjoyed all the irony and subtextual humor on what Life is all about and the steps we take along the way!(and it's insignificance to the universe as a whole)The opening short was genius and I say, this has to be one of the most clever(and downright funny) movies I've ever seen!!! It has me quite interested in seeing Holy Grail and Life of Brian, though in my reading, I see that they are a tad different in tone, correct??

I give it a solid 9 out of 10 and I would be quite happy to add this into my collection. How do you feel about their films as a whole, which is your favorite, any suggestions for a newbie to these and what say you about The Meaning of Life??

Oh I travel, a sort of licenced troubleshooter.

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

Well if you thought this is one of the funniest things ever, you're in for some mind-bending hilarity with Holy Grail & Life Of Brian because in my opinion, The Meaning Of Life is Monty Python's least funny and most uneven feature - and that seems to be the general consensus as well.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[–] ActionJunkie007 9 years ago

Actually, I watched(or attempted to watch I should say) Holy Grail and I really wasn't impressed. While I had a few chuckles(like how everyone rode the fake horses haha), I got about halfway through and felt like it was a very different "class" of film, if that makes sense. Like think Airplane versus Meet The Spartans. I feel that Meaning of Life was far more clever and had alot more to say, versus Holy Grail which felt much more slapsticky. I only got halfway through, and I ended up falling asleep, so I will give it another try, of course, and I have alot of hope for Life of Brian, which I have heard nothing but great stuff(but its hard to find to rent/watch! ugh!), but yeah, so far, Meaning of Life is easily the best.

"Marching up and down the square not good enough for you, eh??"

Oh I travel, a sort of licenced troubleshooter.

[–] GreyHunter 9 years ago

"Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian" are great satires, but I actually agree that "Meaning of Life," though highly disjointed, has some of the funniest material of any of the group's full-length movies. It also has some material that just falls flat, but that's going to happen in even the best movies. But "Meaning of Life" succeeds precisely because it's in Monty Python's wheelhouse. They made their bones as sketch comics before they made any of their movies, and that remains their greatest strength. While "Holy Grail" was somewhat episodic, it revolved around a more limited milieu than "Meaning of Life" and thus enjoyed less room for creative humor. It was hilarious, of course, but still suffered from certain limitations. "Life of Brian" was up-and-up satire, so it tended to focus on religious and historical issues. What sets "Meaning of Life" apart is that it is essentially a continuation of "Flying Circus" but with a better budget and greater selectivity in their choice of sketches. Granted, we got ones like that odd venture into surrealistic fish finding, but there were far more hits than misses.

So I wouldn't really compare this movie to their others. It has a different feel and a different format. If you're looking for a carefully tied together movie, you're going to be disappointed. But it's hard to deny the hilarity of "Meaning of Life", disjointed as it might be.

[–] ActionJunkie007 9 years ago

Thanks for sharing, GreyHunter!! That's exactly how I felt watching Holy Grail, as it was a very different feel, and personally, I just found Meaning of Life far more funny, too, from how far I got, But I still want to give Holy Grail and Life of Brian the respect they deserve, because I really do enjoy movies from these guys, so hopefully Ill have a better handle on all three soon! But now, Its halloween time which means Ill be tied up with horror flicks for the next 26 nights! :)

Oh I travel, a sort of licenced troubleshooter.

[–] Picnic10 8 years ago

I actually think that The Meaning of Life is the very best place to start to get a sense of the personality of each of the Pythons. And, presumably not hampered by any budgetary concerns, the film looks quietly expensive eg Gilliam's opening short film which, let's be honest, showed that he might have had a grander visual scale in mind, more like their earlier films, but also with a prototype Brazil-like political edge, than the sketch-based type comedy of this film. Possibly, the juxtaposition of scale and tone pleased him.

There are also many costume changes (including the surrealist masterpiece Find the Fish) and 2 of their most famous songs - Every Sperm Is Sacred and The Galaxy Song.

I love the Sex Education and Marching Up and Down The Square parts and the apologetic party host played by Chapman as Death kills all his guests. Oh Chapman played British polite indignation to perfection. But he also did forthright Northerness - see the sketch in the Flying Circus TV show where, in a reversal of expectations, Eric Idle in suit and tie is criticised by his father in working class clothing but it is actually the son who is a coalminer. The father is the new breed - of working class (or affected to be working class) playwrights but actually doing manual work somehow makes the son the pompous one "Hampstead not good enough for you, eh. You had to go poncing off to Barnsley!"

I actually think Life of Brian' funniness was a tad inflated by the notoriety around the religious debates and that Holy Grail - and the dark Meaning of Life had the edge in funniness even though Brian looks most 'modern day filmic'.

[–] ActionJunkie007 8 years ago

the dark Meaning of Life had the edge in funniness

This is basically how I felt after watching the majority of Grail! Meaning of Life just felt devilishly dark in tone, but with what they were trying to say with each skit, it just got funnier and funnier! And like you said, such a grander scale.

I am still hunting down Life Of Brian, so I hope to report back on that soon, but we are doing a Christmas marathon currently so It's going to have to wait until the new year!

Thanks for sharing btw!

Oh I travel, a sort of licenced troubleshooter.

[–] davidparr-12867 8 years ago

Meaning of Life is, as the team has said is their least successful. But that's because it is more a series of sketches rather than a cohesive film.

That said, I love it and MOL can be watched bit by bit.

Hope you enjoy its predessors.