07-07-25 The Meaning of Life (1983)

Seen: July 16th, 2007
Format: HD-DVD
Rating: 6

I remember my father and mother going to see this film in the theater. I was interested in what Dad thought, as I was pretty excited to see it myself. Dad's a Catholic, was deeply offended, and they left early. Needless to say, he didn't recommend it. I respect my Dad a lot and felt bad for him, so I didn't go to see it.

Of course, I saw bits of it over the years, and other bits, like most of Python's work, entered the collective consciousness and were quoted to me ad infinitum over the years. I felt like I had seen it, even though I hadn't.

It's about time I made the effort.

I wasn't particularly impressed. Don't get me wrong, there are some great bits here. There are some that are pretty crappy too. But the whole thing really doesn't work as a film.

John Cleese has said that sketch comedy is great, but really doesn't work past 40 to 50 minutes in length, and can't really be the basic for a film. It's pretty evident here. The film was rushed into production on the heels of The Life of Brianin order to capitalize on the success of that film and the Pythons' popularity; and it shows. The meaning of Life is a hodge-podge of sketches very loosely organized under the theme espoused by the title.

Some of these sketches advance this theme, but most really don't. They may be connected to the previous and subsequent sketches, but this doesn't really make the film a whole.

That said, there are some great moments in this film. There is some great writing, satire, music and generally silliness, as one would expect from the Pythons. By far my favorite bit is The Crimson Permanent Assurance, which only validates my proclivity for Terry Gilliam's work. This mini-film has elements of Time Bandits and Brazil, which is a good thing in my opinion.

This review isn't going to change your mind about this film. It's ingrained in film and popular culture and won't be leaving any time soon. But I really didn't find it revolutionary. Sure it had moments, but there was a lot to wade through to get to them.

The Good: It's Python

The Bad: High expectations

The Ugly: A wafer-thin mint