Faded and not replaced

Rating: 5/10 (9 October 2007)

There is indeed a lot in this film to bring it to cult status. The Holy Hand Grenade, Shrewberry and Knight that say Ni are so weird, beyond any measure that they have had no equivalent. It is wonderful that a film made with such a low budget could survive for so many years, but for me it just did not work, sorry.
I also approached it with high expectations, I mean at 35 I only remembered watching it once when I was 8, and had only vague memories of it. Is it a matter of mood? Humour gone stale or repeated too often as "a film they watched and they remember as great?". Possibly. Some old films are better as memories than for what they are. For their cult status, once built, cannot be completely destroyed.
Holy Grail is possibly one of them. Oh it still has its charm, especially its absurdity and the "we had no budget, and we did better than you with a big one". The Monty Python put a lot of talent there, and are still making a living out of those crazy years but 30 years on (yes, 30 years on), the comedy effect they achieve, which was such a breakthrough, has faded away, at least for a "first time" viewer of 2000. I do not mean something has come to replace it, except maybe Wayne's World, and this is probably the saddest conclusion. Nothing has really replaced the weird Monty Python. So watch this, enjoy it with all its faded absurd humour and hope the next laugh-out-loud film will come within your lifetime.