TV Cream

Films: M is for...

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

There’s the slightly underrated, knockabout one, and the slightly overrated, controversial one, now here’s the one you thought was great when you saw it on video round your mate’s house at the age of fourteen, but now realise is a bit crap, really.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Sidney Balmoral James

    September 2, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    Could not agree more with the ‘comedically impoverished’ bit – and whose idea was the creepy nudity (the man being chased by topless women, the dancers in the Christmas in Heaven number with their breasts exposed) although all things considered, that’s a long way from being the least tasteful element in this egregious ragbag of sketches. Only one good line: (of the Grim Reaper) ‘Has he come about the hedge?’

  2. richardpd

    September 2, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    Not the best of the Python films by some way, but plenty of memorable moments.

    Mr Creosote and the Every Sperm Is Sacred dance routine (choreographed by future Strictly judge Arlene Phillips) are standout moment, as is the weird Terry Gilliam directed bit with the office becoming a pirate ship. Supposedly it should have been shorter but no-one told Gilliam how long to make it.

  3. Tom Ronson

    May 23, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    This is my favourite Monty Python film. It’s basically a big-screen episode of the TV series, with a dark, menacing, melancholy Gerald Scarfe vibe hanging over most of it – and very, very redolent of early eighties Britain. Yes, Life of Brian is funnier, Holy Grail is sillier, but this is the closest we’ve ever seen to what really made the Pythons tick – dark souls, filthy minds.

  4. Droogie

    May 24, 2022 at 1:11 am

    Hasn’t aged well. Creosote and Sperm song are classics, but the rest is all a bit meh. Galaxy song is not good, and Gilliam appears in blackface TWICE!

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