A comedy film about Jesus Christ (sort of)? It can work! This is perhaps the defining one.

Rating: 6/10 (20 April 2019)

"Life of Brian" is a British comedy movie from 1979 and the most known effort most likely by the comedy troup Monty Python. Do I even need to say that? I think everybody knows. Anyway, this one has its 40th anniversary now and on that occasion, even if some devout Christians may not have liked it, especially for the Easter holidays, it returned to theaters again and yesterday I was lucky enough to be in a viewing. The director is Terry Jones and he is also one of the many writers. I will spare you most of the names, but of course Terry Gilliam, a really successful filmmaker in his own right, deserves a mention too and he is also acting in here obviously. I would also like to mention John Cleese, who probably gave my favorite performance from everybody in here, and he was just great fun and had amazing screen presence and he was also more handsome than I thought and I am writing this as a heterosexual male. Fittingly, back then that was half his life as he turns 80 later this year. The main character is played by Graham Chapman, who was perhaps the unluckiest from the Monty Python bunch as he died relatively early from cancer. And while some are dead, others managed great careers, including Oscar nominations, like Cleese. There were also some that ended up forgotten mostly like the Judith actress. Great choice for a name by the way.
Okay, this film takes place during the years of Jesus Christ, but it is not about him. Instead it is about Brian, a baby born the exact same day and same hour like Jesus right a few meters away from him and the Three Kings arrive there first as we find out right at the beginning in one of the most hilarious scenes of the film. The mother was always great. There is also some bizarre hilarity about her obviously being played by a male and being in disguise as a male with all the other women throwing stones during the execution. But while there is a plot and the film is also chronologic, it felt like a sketch comedy most of the time and the actors playing several characters like it is not uncommon for these shows) also add to that. But a high quality sketch comedy with a big budget obviously. The funniest moment for me was certainly the first Biggus Dickus scene with the guards next to the emperor (was that Caesar?) being unable to control their laughter, especially at the end when he mentions Biggus Dickus' wife Incontinencia. Hilarious stuff and also great to see B.D. later on in person with his speech impediment. Just like his imperator's. It was kinda funny how the people had so much fun throwing names at them and they did not get it. Yeah, these were the highlights basically. I think all the actors did a good job overall, some really stood out. I also liked the "everybody just one cross" fella and Cleese like I mentioned already. The only thing that keeps me from giving this an even higher rating is that the plot did not feel too fluent enough for me and early on it took me a relatively long (after the 3 Kings scene) to get into this movie. But when I did, I quite enjoyed it. The final "Always Look on the Bright Side" sequence is of course a classic, no denying. And how Brian eventually ends up on the cross too, shows that the film may be closer to Jesus' story than you think. It sure is a witty little movie and maybe it is also the small moments and references that make it work, like the guy pretending to be Brian eventually saying no he isn't him and he does want to return to the cross. Or how Brian talks about how good the sex was. Or the fella who gets tortured so hard and he returns briefly at the end wishing he would finaly get killed too. Or the soldier guy constantly returning to the rebels' hideout with the fella saying oh it's not too bad to get crucified. Haha I guess now I also know why some super religious people don't like this movie. But also away from the religious aspect, there are many fun moments to appreciate here. How they thought there was no Brian, but scream the name because of the r. The PFJ and so on and so on. I must say I am not really well aware about Monty Python and their works, but this film surely sparkled my interest, so I may check out some other stuff in the future. For also away from the comedy, in terms of sets, costumes, makeup and cinematography, this is a really good achievement. Infinitely better than the level you usually see in comedy films. The only scene I found a bit overrated was the balcony scene near the end. And a bit overlong too. But the real question here, the only question, that needs to be asked: Was this a great or just a good good movie? I think I will go with the latter and give it 3 out of 5 stars. A top250 classic, like it says here on imdb, it is not I would say. But one that deserves to be seen at least once and is also really funny on rewatch. It may have been the delicate subject that kept it from getting the awards recognition it deserved, but I guess it is all good with how it is seen as a classic by many today. Go watch it, preferably on the big screen.