The best Monty Python movie

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2015)

The Holy Grail is the first feature film from Monty Python, the British sketch show comics who had become famous in the late 60's / early 70's with their BBC TV series. It tells the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in their quest for the Holy Grail. But to be honest, the story is merely a thread in which they link a series of funny set-pieces together. For me, this is the funniest movie they ever made. To be honest, there really are far too many amusing moments to list them but needless to say they combine cleverness with stupid humour and the tone is consistently absurd. But if I was forced to names the scene that cracks me up the most I would have to pick the one that introduces us to Brave Sir Robin – the singing of his sarcastic minstrel makes me roar with laughter every time. This character is actually a bit unusual though, in that he is not performed by any of the Pythons because the vast majority of the other roles are covered by the team of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with Graham Chapman mainly playing the central King Arthur role in a very funny straight-man performance. Terry Gilliam appears in minor roles but is most notable for providing several of his distinctive animations. In summary, this is a very funny movie.