Hilarious In Every Way

Rating: 9/10 (23 July 2009)

No other movie has so eloquently demonstrated why religious zealots have no sense of humour. They take themselves too seriously. They are stuffed so full of self-righteous piety and bumptious arrogance, that they are themselves the best comedic subject, just ripe for lampooning.
The Python team saw this clearly and hit the ground running. Here we had a group of anarchic comedians who were not only hilarious, they were highly intelligent and educated. The perfect formula for pricking establishment egos.
In this movie we see every aspect of human institution being taken to the cleaners. There's dictatorial but dim Roman soldiers epitomised by John Cleese's centurion, steadfastly correcting the Latin grammar of a rebel's graffiti. There's oh-so-politically-correct tub-thumping Marxist plotters, obsessed with nomenclature and for whom holding meetings is the be-all and end-all of insurrection. There's the wonderfully-observed scene in which Brian - chased by adoring multitudes - drops his gourd and then loses his sandal, each of which are picked up and held as 'signs', and already we can see the mob splintering into two deluded factions of the same ideal, like Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shias.
There's Brian's mum as a bigoted old fruitcake who comes out with a line that will surely prove to be as immortal as any from the gospel texts 'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!' This isn't just a thoroughly deserved mockery of religion, it's a custard-pie in the face of human arrogance and vanity wherever it may be.
Definitely one of the funniest movies ever made. A modern-day equivalent taking on Islam is long overdue and even more deserved.