Directed By: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam
Starring: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle
Tagline: It took God six days to create the earth, and Monty Python just 90 minutes to screw it up"
Trivia: Michael Palin's line, "Hey, but I didn't eat the mousse," is a rare Python ad-lib and was not in the script
Having already tackled the legend of King Arthur (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and Christianity (Life of Brian), Monty Python obviously felt they were ready for something a bit larger in scope, and for my money, it doesn't get much bigger than defining The Meaning of Life!
Returning once again to the sketch format made popular in their Flying Circus television program, the Pythons (or Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric idle and Terry Gilliam) present the story of life in skit format, from birth and early education up to and including death.
The lads make a few detours along the way, delving into such topics as sex, theology, and war, and even have time for a musical number or two. Yet, ultimately, The Meaning of Life is about just that, explaining why mankind is here on this planet, and offering a hypothesis on the true reason for existence.
On second thought… no... it isn’t about that at all.
The Meaning of Life is yet another triumph for the Pythons. Among the highlights are a classroom sequence, set at an all-boys prep school, where the Headmaster (John Cleese) is instructing his pupils on the finer points of sex by way of a live demonstration; and a late scene in which a dinner party is interrupted when Death (Cleese again) comes knocking.
Of course, the group occasionally crosses the line into hilariously bad taste, including the “organ donor” skit and, even worse, a sequence set in an upper-class restaurant, where the incredibly wealthy Mr. Creosote (Terry Jones), who also happens to be the world’s most obese man, wreaks havoc with his rather nasty habit of vomiting every few seconds. The movie also boasts a handful of memorable musical numbers, like the not-so-subtle jab at Catholicism, “Every Sperm is Sacred”, and the Busby Berkeley-inspired “Christmas in Heaven” grand finale.
The Meaning of Life has all this, and some fish too!
For those of you wondering if, during all the chaos laid out above, the Pythons ever do get around to enlightening the audience on the true meaning of life, I can assure you they do.
But if it’s an earth-shattering revelation you are craving, well… you'll probably be disappointed.
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