An Epic of Knockoff- Biblical Proportions

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2013)

It's worth noting right off the bat that I've never seen anything Monty Python before except for the Ministry of Silly Walks. No, not even Holy Grail. Yet. But I expected quite a bit from Life of Brian, seeing as the Pythons are some of the most revered comedians of all time.
I was sadly disappointed. Life of Brian just never hit an exceptionally high, focused note. To start, the whole thing looks like a B- movie. It's as visually cheesy as a late 50's movie, and while the star of a comedy is its writing and delivery, the poor technical delivery is a major distraction.
Then we move into the plot- I feel that Brian suffers from a poor plot that can't live up to its premise, if that makes sense. The initial scene, the manger next door, is a fantastic idea. The 'mistaken messiah' is genius. But the 'protesting Jews' that makes up half the film made me scratch my head- why? It's unfocused and the point is unclear, so I was always edgy and it distracted further from the comedy.
Into the actual jokes themselves, some hit with me and others failed. The best parts of the film are Palin's "Biggus Dickus" questioning and the final scene, peaking with the Jewish Peole's Front Suicide Squad. The whole Messiah angle is made humorously relevant if you consider the idiots at Westboro Baptist. But there are jokes that flew over my head or just didn't register- a man in drag isn't a winner for me, and a strange, Otherworldly scene- which my parents told me was out of their TV series- made no sense.
I was initially very sour about this film. It's most likely that there's a generation gap thing, although I do have a lack of affinity for comedies as a whole. Although even a day has been kind to this film- it's worth noting I felt the same way about Apocalypse Now when I first saw that, and that's another unfair comparison I've made with this film. I can't believe these two films were played beside each other in a theatre (or not, in Norway). Anyway, to parents wishing to show old comedies to the younger generation, don't start with this one. 7.3/10