Oddly warm and good-hearted

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2004)

Brian, who's born at the same time as Jesus, gets involved in the political resistance to the Roman occupation, and later gets mistaken as the Messiah. Once controversial but now seems rather tame: the comedic pokes are relatively light, and are targeted not so much at Christianity or religion as zealotry of all stripes (note that political zealotry, here represented by revolutionary movements, is as much of a target as religion). Popular culture has essentially caught up with this film, but it's still pretty good: Graham Chapman plays Brian as a put-upon Everyman, and he comes across as very sweet and likable. Plenty of funny bits -- my favorite is a scene involving Michael Palin as Pontius Pilate, telling his guards about some of his friends' names. The final messages of "think for yourself" and "keep your chin up" seem very warm and good-hearted to me. Recommended.