The Python's best, not sacrilegious, just a brilliant film

Rating: 10/10 (4 June 2003)

I'm all for Holy Grail. I do love a bit of Meaning of Life now and then. But give me Life of Brian anytime. It's funny, it's deep, it's entertaining, it's (often, for me anyway) tear-jerking. This film is not only very well made but also very clever. The jokes are mostly intelligent and it's comments on religion should not be ignored.
This has often been listed as one of the best films for atheists, and has been fought by the hyper-religious. In actuality, neither side is correct. Life of Brian neither advocates atheism or goes against religion in any way. It goes against overly-religious people and how quick they are to follow anyone and believe anything without thinking for themselves. Jesus is shown once, in a very positive way. Brian does not claim to be the Messiah, people just blindly believe it.
Everyone in the film does a fantastic job. John Cleese is, as always, most enjoyable when yelling. Eric Idle (A personal hero of mine) is delightful, cheeky, and gets a chance to show off not only his great body but also his sweet voice. You can't turn around in Life of Brian without running into Michael Palin, but he does a decent job with each character. Jones is perfect as Brian's mother and Terry Gilliam gives probably his best performance as a 'mad and deaf' jailer (Complimented perfectly by the wonderful Eric Idle). However, the gem of the film is the late Graham Chapman as Brian. Chapman throws himself into the role, and plays it to humanistic perfection. His performance (and the fantastic actress that plays Judith) are what sets Life of Brian apart from the other two Python films. It gives it a very human feel, and you truly sympathize with Brian.
This is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the best comedic films of all time. It challenged how far you could go in films and influenced a generation. Truly, the Pythons did for comedy what the Beatles did for music. And they prove it best in this fantastic film.
(From my experience, the only people who don't like Life of Brian are those that either 'don't get it' and are confused by the lack of fart jokes or are over-religious and needlessly offended.)