All you need to know about religion!

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2003)

Brian was born in the manger next door to that OTHER manger. In his thirties, he gets mixed up in a gang of terrorists / freedom fighters to impress a girl. This leads, through a slapstick set of coincidences, to his being taken as a messiah. THE messiah. As the multitude stalks him, we see how random individuals' bizarre perceptions turn into dogma.
OK, sorry. It's really really funny, and brilliantly satirizes not only the birth of Christianity, but also nationalism, authority, mindless conformity, sterile tradition ("Why can't women go to the stoning, Mum?" "Because it is WRITTEN, that's why!"), political correctness, Star Wars, speech impediments, joke names, and the inevitability of missing the point ("I think he said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers!'"). Whereas MP's Holy Grail was superbly silly, this movie is stunningly subversive.
One of my fondest teenage memories is gleefully crossing the picket lines the Fundamentalists staged in front of the Tulsa theater where my friends and I first saw this movie, then saw it again every week for four weeks in a row. The distinction between the movie and real life blurred to the extent that we didn't even bother dropping acid after the first viewing. The poor drug never stood a chance against the surrealness of it all.
My favorite sequence: Brian: "You're all individuals!" Multitude (in unison): "Yes, we're all individuals!" Brian: "You're all different!" Multitude: "Yes, we're all different" Single member of the multitude (sheepishly): "I'm not."
Ten out of five stars! My favorite movie ever!