Should have been the start of something bigger...

Rating: 7/10 (2 October 2003)

After establishing themselves as the Beatles of Comedy on their five-year UK television run, the six-member comedy troupe better known as Monty Python made their move to film with this clever, genre-bending spoof of Arthurian legend. In a better world, it would have kicked off a long series of similar Python films, of satires and broad comedies at a pace of one every two or three years, some better, some worse, but all beloved in the same vein as this.
I feel in an odd spot here, saying "Holy Grail" is not that great on the one hand and I wish there had been more on the other. But there's a logic stream here. I think the Pythons were on to something, a formula they could have enriched over time. The movie was clearly the work of novices; accomplished comedic actors and hilarious writers yes, but stark newbies on the big screen. The film's texture is as muddy as a Super 8 home movie in places, the action is choppy, and the plot line sags when it should grow taut. I get the feeling the film draws away deliberately from letting us like the individual characters because it disrupts the aesthetic (or as Lancelot would say, the idiom) in which Python works, but this morbid and depressing style grates over time. And then there's that wicked stupid ending, as bad a one as any good film ever had.
These are flaws lesser than the film's virtues, which are some brilliant comedy sequences, an eye for period detail and squalor, and a terrific musical score. The no-horse joke is dragged on past the point of obviousness and idiocy to a place by the end that's almost sublime, and it's as much a testament to the comic courage of the Pythons than any of their later icon-bashing. What's bad here are minor by contrast, and the sort of things more accomplished filmmakers would improve upon with subsequent efforts, talky bits, jumpy segues, and the like. Indeed, Python did just that when they made their next film, "Life Of Brian," which actually works as a story in a way "Holy Grail" doesn't, though minus the same broad humor, but then the Pythons went to seed in the 80s, traipsing off into solo projects and one lame sketch-comedy knockoff, "Meaning Of Life," before we lost Graham Chapman to AIDS and that was that.
MPATHG works very well for the first 20 minutes or so, setting the scene of Britain circa 932 AD, then loses altitude like a coconut-laden swallow as it takes on the Grail quest legends, before screeching to a silly halt with a ending that deserves a spoiler if any film ever did. Episodic bits work well in isolation, often very well, but don't gel the way they should. There's some great episodes, the duel with the Black Knight, the faceoffs with Knights who say Ni, the quests of Galahad and Lancelot, and the finale at the Bridge of Death ("oh, great"). The part I enjoy most is Robin's relationship with his minstrels, perhaps the worst spin doctors a leader could have (though he certainly deserves them.)
Picking out the individual members for applause seems an exercise in perversity, but Michael Palin shines as Galahad, the lead Ni Knight, and especially the father of Prince Herbert ("This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.") Also, Chapman is solid in the lead role, and one almost wishes we were really allowed to root for the guy. (Hard to believe Chapman was reportedly soused for much of the filming. He seems rock-steady.)
The great thing about this movie is you don't have to be a Python fan to enjoy it. You can actually have a happy family life, normal adult friends, and no special aptitude for Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit. Holy Grail doesn't deserve the biggest cult following this side of Sun Yung Moon, but it's merry and more than adequate for what it tries to be. I can't help feeling it could just have been the beginning of so much more.