Monty Python's Meaning of Life: Review By soylent green Lantern

I think Monty Python's worst debit has been their fans, who to outsiders often come across much the same way Trekkies do: people lost in some sort of alternate reality, spouting all sorts of irritating in-jokes and incomprehensible catch-phrases-- in America, people who seem to think everything is funny when said in a British accent. The "cult" status Python has achieved effectively obscures just how remarkable their talents are. "The Meaning of Life," the "Life of Brian," and the "Holy Grail" deserve recognition alongside the movies of Luis Bunuel, the Marx Brothers, and Godard: the great surrealist satirists of cinema.

We see an underwater scene with a fake fish swimming slowly back and forth. Another fish enters and they exchange gruff, "Good mornings." One by one other fish swim into the scene and each time, there is the same "good morning" exchange, very ritualized and formal. There is a brief conversation between the fishes. (All of them have hideous humanoid face.) "Anything new?" "Wot?" "I say, anything new?" "No, nothing much new." One of the fishes faces the camera and exclaims, "Look! Howard's being EATEN." And the camera shows us that the fish are in a restaurant aquarium, the kind from which ultra-fresh live fish are hand picked to serve as an entrée.

We see the fussily dressed waiter bending down to show the customer his nicely prepared decapitate piscine preparation.

"Hmmm," one of the fish wonders aloud. "Makes you THINK, doesn't it?" Then the opening credits roll -- "Monty Python's Meaning of Life." Granted this description loses something in being transposed from one medium to another, but if you don't find this amusing you may not appreciate the rest of the film.

There are some dozen or so sketches, none of which fall entirely flat, but some of which are stronger than others. The most offensive by far is the infamous sketch that even made Quentin Tarantino sick, Mr. Creosote, who waddles into a fancy French restaurant and literally drags his belly along the floor. The staff rush to seat him and cater to him. (Throughout the film, much of the humor derives from the unflappability of the cast, no matter how dire the circ*mstances -- selling one's children for use is scientific experiments, losing a leg, or death). The waiters provide the rebarbative Mr. Creosote with a bucket to puke into and Mr. Creosote uses it -- not delicately but voluminously, all over the floor and the other diners. When he's eaten and drunk what appears to be the entire stock of the restaurant, no more than a tiny head on a balloon of a body, dribbling vomit, the waiter entices him into trying just one more dessert, a wafer thin mint. The waiter gingerly feeds it to him, then dives behind a wall as Mr. Creosote explodes like a bomb, drenching the entire interior of the establishment and causing one of the extras to become ill (Watch on the far right of the screen).

And what follows the aforementioned sequence is my favorite of the film. Eric Idle plays another waiter following the explosion of Mr. Creosote. He has us follow him through the streets in a pretty long scene that leads us to his "Meaning of Life":

"My mother told me, 'Gaston, there are many people in the world, and in order to get along, you have to try and make everyone happy.' That is why I became a waiter, so I can make people happy.....Well, it may not be the best philosophy but, f*ck you. I can live my life in my own way if I want to! F*ck off! Don't come a following me!"

"The Meaning of Life" takes the Monty Python gang back to its sketch comedy roots--not that "Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian" weren't sketch-oriented, but they were sketches within a continuous plot line. "Meaning of Life" is tied together only with the thread that the sketches are all supposed to be about discovering the meaning of life. Not being loyal to a standard plot structure opens up a lot more possibility for the six comedians and the result is satire that comes across more clearly than any of their previous films. At the same time, there is a slight sacrifice of humor--specifically hysterics--but the brilliance of the social commentary wins out.

Written in a series of parts, "Meaning of Life" travels along the life cycle (from birth to death) in search of reason for our existence. What the film discovers (and we find out), however, is that we've got a lot of meaningless crud in the way and we're too stupid and ignorant to understand life or appreciate its miraculousness.

As a film built brick by brick using sketches would seem to, "Meaning of Life" is enjoyed scene by scene. Some will stick with you and make you laugh, others will twist and poke fun at your very understanding of reality. Most memorable are scenes like the musical romp "Every Sperm is Sacred" which is meant to show the benefits of being Protestant (you're allowed to put rubber on your John Thomas). Some are true to "Holy Grail" fashion, like a tiger in Africa, when a British general during the conquest of Africa goes off in search of his main officer's legs to find Michael Palin and Eric Idle dressed in a tiger costume, attempting to deny such claims. The best satire of the film is when John Cleese shows his class of apathetic students a live demonstration of intercourse, a hysterical commentary on education.

Other moments of satire that prod at the film's greater idea are scenes such as the two Americans on holiday in presumably Hawaii who go to a restaurant to order conversations off the menu, philosophy being one, for example. The point there is to highlight the meaningless chit chat over dinner that is often viewed as being important despite the obvious meaninglessness. Also, the Death scene with the grim reaper getting agitated by a few couples eating dinner together and treating him like anyone else makes a similar point about the phony ways people treat each other at times.

Overall, the film constantly brings up the phrase "the meaning of life," but something always hinders it or distracts from it, or its significance goes unnoticed. Right from the start, the Birth scene where machines that go "PING!" are seen as more important than the birth itself, which is treated like a tourist attraction instead of a personal moment, Monty Python establishes its agenda.