Life of Brian - The Greek shall inherit the Earth

I feel the need to explain just who Monty Python is...they are a British comedy troupe consisting of the likes of such brilliance as Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Graham "Ex-doc" Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones. Their hit comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus set a new standard in humor. If you've not seen it, go rent it now! Better yet.. buy the set! These boys must have lead some really warped childhoods.. that's all I'm sayin'!

First they gave us the brilliance of Holy Grail. Just when we thought it was safe to go to the theatre again, here came 1979 and Life of Brian. Your sides will never forgive you! Yes folks, yet another side-splitting, laugh-out-loud marvel of a movie. Bigger budget this time, but every bit as gut-busting hilarious as the first.

Fuck off! We're the People's Front of Judea

Once again we have the 6 warped troupers playing multiple roles. Timing is, as usual, spot-on perfect. This one has been lambasted in certain sectors for taking swipes at religion, but ignore that. Those folks are humorless and I pity them. Life of Brian is just that, the life of a poor chap name of Brian who has the luck to be born in the manger next door to Jesus on Christmas....yes, he is the one, the only, Brian of Nazareth.

I have a vewy good fwiend in Wome named "Biggus Dickus."

Nobody is safe here. Everyone gets made fun of in this movie, and I do mean everyone! From Biblical figures to the women's movement. Even crucifixion becomes funny! So basically, you take the Bible, and proceed to warp it every which way you can, then toss in some modern-day allusions... and there you have it.

All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

One of the aspects that adds so much to the hilarity is the fact that even many female roles are played by by the males of Monty Python. This is especially funny in the feminist swipes... and the infamous stoning scene where you have Men dressed as women dressed as men.. how warped is that??

The DVD hasn't got alot of extras, unfortunately... Theatrical trailer, talent bios... that's about it. It's the widescreen version, and runs 94 minutes. I've heard of commentaries by part of the troupe, but my DVD doesn't have those options...grrr argh!

Rated R for language mostly..and you can see by some of the quotes I've provided that there is, indeed, language. I would argue that it isn't anything your kids aren't hearing in grade school... heh. But, fact is kids won't want to see this anyway. Teens will, and I would let them.

I'm not a Roman mum, I'm a kike, a yid, a heebie, a hook-nose, I'm kosher mum, I'm a Red Sea pedestrian, and proud of it!

As with Holy Grail, there are too many stories within a story to go over them all...and it wouldn't be fair to even try. This is another one of those movies that a written review cannot possibly do justice to. You simply have to watch it. Go on...

How shall we fuck off, O Lord?