Review – The Meaning of Life

Though it has a funny moment or two, this is far from Monty Python’s finest hour. It gets off on the wrong foot by leading with an intensely boring featurette directed by Terry Gilliam, and from there it’s nothing but a string of loosely-connected skits. Some of them are okay, such as the parade ground piece or the Grim Reaper sequence toward the end. Others not so much, such as the long stretch of shots from a moving camera following Eric Idle around the streets and countryside. Sadly, the majority of the picture is simply mediocre. Even the brief glimmers of humor – such as the liver donor gag – peter out or get run into the ground. And the Mr. Creosote bit still makes me shudder; I was sick as a dog (and in a movie theater as well) the first time I saw this, and the endless barfing was sheer agony to watch. Fans will want to give this a look, but all others should consider Holy Grail or Life of Brian instead. Mildly amusing