Monty Python: Meaning of Life vs Holy Grail vs Life of Brian

[dmb70]

All 3 are great, but my order is
1 grail
2 brian
3 life

[kolibri]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Could not have said it any better myself.

Even though I know that Holy Grail will trump in this poll, Life Of Brian is by far the best in my opinion. It's far less reliant on the usage of "silliness" for laughter. And, what "silliness" IS used often has some cerebral context to back it up... aside from the alien intermission bit. I still scratch my head everytime I see that part.

I sometimes wonder if they threw that whole alien sequence as a piss-take of the 'god was an alien' theory. Or, a bit of a dig at the 'I was abducted by aliens' brigade. Of course, it could just simply be for a bit of fun...

[Hep]

My gut first wanted to go with Grail for the win. I really enjoyed Grail (and Life for that matter), but as I read the thoughts here, and think about which is actually the better movie, I have to go with Brian as well; although it has fewer uncontrollable laughing-out-loud moments, I think it's just a smarter, better product overall.

[sfmarine]

I'm still waiting for Holy Grail to get a Blu release. Hopefully we'll get it soon. Life of Brian was excellent!

[plenipote]

Holy Grail is absolutely my favorite Python film, with Meaning of Life and Life of Brian following. I really like all three movies, but I can tell you which one I enjoy the most by which one I quote the most, or have quoted the most in my life. Run away, Run away! Is that an African or a European swallow? But the third one, the third one stood!

[vegeta88]

1.) Life of Brian
2.) Meaning of Life
3.) Holy Grail

Life of Brian is excellent satire and brilliant humor. Meaning of life is hilarious with some great skits. I actually find Holy Grail to be the least funny of the three (though still very funny). I know the Python's say one reason they don't like it is because it was not a concise story like he others and it wasn't really tied together but I actually find that it works because it is a jumble. Life is a big mess and doesn't fit together like a well plotted movie. I'll end my rant before I get too far into it

[TTC1984]

Holy Grail. It does for the medieval epic what Blazing Saddles did for the Western.

Life of Brian is a VERY close second though - it's the absolute best parody of biblical epics ever made.

Meaning of Life has its moments, but as a whole it just seems less entertaining. It's like they were trying to go back to their sketch comedy roots, but they don't quite hit the mark.

[Meeklo]

The Mr. Creosote skit in Meaning of Life is disgustingly funny.

How are you doing sir?

Better...

Better?

Better get me a bucket, I'm going to throw up!

Still doesn't beat Holy Grail though.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Meeklo

The Mr. Creosote skit in Meaning of Life is disgustingly funny.

How are you doing sir?

Better...

Better?

Better get me a bucket, I'm going to throw up!

Still doesn't beat Holy Grail though.

The best scenes in Holy Grail were the Black Knight, the wedding party and the nun castle.

[FendersRule]

Originally Posted by TTC1984

Holy Grail. It does for the medieval epic what Blazing Saddles did for the Western.

Life of Brian is a VERY close second though - it's the absolute best parody of biblical epics ever made.

Meaning of Life has its moments, but as a whole it just seems less entertaining. It's like they were trying to go back to their sketch comedy roots, but they don't quite hit the mark.

Meaning of life has lots of moments. The galaxy song, every ***** is sacred, the classroom, religious humor, the puking scenes, the organ exchange, and I liked the whole moving building subplot. To me, the Meaning of Life is like the 2001: Space Odyssey of comedy. It's divided up into acts, encourages lots of thought, and doesn't always make sense. It relies on shocking the audience, and that type of humor is way more funny than historical satire (Holy Grail) to me.

The entire scene where the protestants were talking about Catholics and birth control was extremely funny as well. It's all playful humor, and no one's toes gets stepped on, that's why it's so funny. Catholics probably watch it and likely laugh more than anyone else.

I really don't see how anyone could not like Meaning of Life. It's probably the safest Monty Python to watch first, as the other movies rely on knowing the background material such as Life of Brian (should know at least a little bit of christianity) and Holy Grail (should know a little bit about medieval history). With meaning of life, you can really go into it knowing what the average person knows, and you'll find everything funny in it, which is why I would recommend it over the others for first time viewers.

Originally Posted by Meeklo

The Mr. Creosote skit in Meaning of Life is disgustingly funny.

How are you doing sir?

Better...

Better?

Better get me a bucket, I'm going to throw up!

Still doesn't beat Holy Grail though.

I still think it does. All Holy Grail has to offer is childish historical satire humor. It's probably the funniest of it's kind, but it doesn't crack me up as much as it does other people. I don't know, maybe it's because I feel like I'm suppose to laugh? Don't get me wrong, I like Holy Grail (i've only watched it once), but it just didn't produce the same level of humor as The Meaning of Life. Plus with Meaning of Life, you get several songs stuck in your head that just won't leave. I just should not sing them out-loud, but it's kinda difficult.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

My favorite is The Holy Grail, followed by Life of Brian. I didn't care for Meaning of Life.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by FendersRule

I like Holy Grail (i've only watched it once), but it just didn't produce the same level of humor as The Meaning of Life.

( )

Plus with Meaning of Life, you get several songs stuck in your head that just won't leave. I just should not sing them out-loud, but it's kinda difficult.

Yeah, Holy Grail sure could've used some songs to remember...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjacqcTFYFw

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Holy Grail wins for me, haven't seen Meaning of Life and hated Life of Brian.

I liked Holy Grail best as a movie, but the stoning scene in Brian was one of the funniest things they've done. As a movie though, I wasn't impressed with the rest of Brian. Meaning of Life had it's moments, but it wasn't close to Holy Grail.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

The best scenes in Holy Grail were the Black Knight, the wedding party and the nun castle.

Don't forget Tim the Enchanter and the Killer Rabbit; and what... is the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow?.

Rich

[GORT]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLwxObfaNE

[Hep]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Yeah, Holy Grail sure could've used some songs to remember...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjacqcTFYFw

...that's exactly what popped into my head when I read the implication that the Holy Grail lacked catchy tunes.

[sfmarine]

haha classic!

[FendersRule]

Originally Posted by Hep

...that's exactly what popped into my head when I read the implication that the Holy Grail lacked catchy tunes.

Except you can't understand over half of the words, and nothing is as catchy as "every ***** is sacred".

Nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

[Hep]

Originally Posted by FendersRule

Except you can't understand over half of the words, and nothing is as catchy as "every ***** is sacred".

Nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

Nothing takes away from the hilarity of the ***** song.

Edit: you mean we edit proper medical terms on here?

[FendersRule]

Yeah, it's pretty sad that ***** is censored.

Very sad.

What about semen?

Oh, that works.

Every semen is sacred...

ugh...there's no reason to censor *****.