"In God's name, show me the grail!"

Rating: 4/10 (10 December 2000)

Can I commit heresy by making a small confession? I don't find Monty Python very funny. Neither is Black Adder, and Sgt.Pepper isn't the greatest album ever made.
Python is commendable, of course. The sketch show was interesting, and made innovative use of the television format. (I would say groundbreaking but I've seen Spike Milligan's "Q"). Yet funny? Python has always struck me as the very worst kind of undergraduate humour, the sort of indulgent "comedy" that's uncool to dislike in any University.
In reality, of course, I suspect the somewhat obvious sight gags and formula juxtapositions are liked by a very small minority. But the ultimate in Emperor's New Clothes causes black t-shirted, Wilde-quoting students to break into peer-pleasing hysterics at a knight who goes "ni!" A worry is that if you don't laugh then you'll be called "thick" or told that you just "don't get it". But I do get it, and it's nowhere near as clever as it pretends to be. The repetitive jokes (Knights on pretend horseback; ironic detachment to death; characters who talk too much), coupled with the attempt at a singular narrative make Holy Grail an exercise in tedium.
It doesn't help matters that the six members of the group aren't exactly natural comedians. John Cleese, the supposed comic genius of the team is possibly the least funny. I mean, he's too posh, surely? Posh people aren't funny, that's the rule. Seeing middle-class boy Cleese bullying foreigners and the working classes in the overrated Fawlty Towers inexplicably amuses many. Michael Palin would be a straight man in any other troupe, and is far more suited to travelogues. Terry Gilliam, arguably the most talented and a hugely important director, would be the first to admit he's not that hot as a performer. And Graham Chapman, the tall camp one, must get bored playing the same character all the time. That leaves Eric Idle and co-director Terry Jones as the only members who can genuinely raise a smile.
I was amazed to find that this is regarded on the IMDb as the strongest Python film, as I have seen a lot better. Holy Grail is symptomatic of every flaw in the series, with hardly a single joke coming off. Even Gilliam's surrealist animation is lacking here, and the songs are a chore to sit through. The few good gags involve a Trojan rabbit which the knights forget to hide in; Neil Innes singing the uncomplimentary tale of Sir Robin; a copyright disclaimer signed by Richard Nixon, and a Yorkshireman King. However, the only part that made me laugh out loud was the truly hilarious killer rabbit. Five funny jokes. 85 minutes. Oh dear. 4/10.