wicked, funny, biting satire

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2000)

I've seen this film about 30 times and I still crack up. If ever there was a classic example of genius bordering on madness, then this is it.

Those who condemned it for blasphemy and lack of respect for Jesus are missing the point. What is sent up here is not God, nor Christ, but the ridiculous ways in which humans use spirituality and belief for their own ends, and so deny themselves the very thing they are seeking.
The idea is brilliant - a poor Jewish man finds himself by accident following in the footsteps of Christ, and discovering the pitfalls and perils thereof. It's a classic one-step displacement in order to laugh at social and moral stupidities of the past and present. The script is very tight, nothing is overdone or laboured, you're kept chuckling right the way through whilst marvelling at the cleverness of the storytelling.
My favourite part was when Brian was writing out his slogan "Romans go Home" and gets caught. Anybody who has sat through Latin classes will groan as the memories of declensions and conjugations come back. Horrible!
It's classic Python, the best thing they've ever done and it still is very funny even in 2000. John Cleese is brilliant, so is Terry Jones and Graham Chapman is perfect as the straight man Brian.
And of course there's that wonderful song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" - sheer genius, horribly covered by Art Garfunkel in "As Good as It Gets".
I've seen this too many times to offer a really critical review. I can quote slabs too, unfortunately.
If you've never seen it, go down to Blockbuster and hire it out when you're feeling miserable. Guaranteed to get you smiling.