He’s a very naughty boy!”), the film explores Jesus’s life by obsessing over the context around it. Steeped in satire fixing on everything from Spartacus to Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, and buttressed by as many iconic lines as there are crucifixes holding up the film’s frames (as Brian’s equally squealy mother hollers to the swarming masses, “He’s not the messiah. Of course, Life of Brian isn’t the first film about Jesus (or: Jesus adjacent) to focus on the human side of the so-called savior-Martin Scorsese’s take popularly did so less than a decade later-but it feels like the first to leverage human weakness against the absurdity of the Divine’s expectations. As such, the British comedy group stripped all romanticism and nobility from the story’s bones, lampooning everything from radical revolutionaries to religious institutions to government bureaucracy while never stooping to pick on the figure of Jesus or his empathetic teachings. As a Christ story, the telling of how squealy mama’s boy, Brian (Graham Chapman) mistakenly finds himself as one of many messiah figures rising in Judea under the shadow of Roman occupation (around 33 AD, on a Saturday afternoon-ish), Monty Python’s follow-up to Holy Grail may be the most political film of its ilk. Pretty much made on George Harrison’s dime and considered, even if apocryphally, by the legendary comedy troupe to be their best film (probably because it’s the closest they’ve come to a three-act narrative with obvious “thematic concerns”), Life of Brian got banned by a lot of countries at the butt-end of the ’70s. Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin The first-time co-direction from onscreen performer Terry Jones (who only sporadically directed after Python broke up) and lone American Terry Gilliam (who prolifically bent Python’s cinematic style into his own unique brand of nightmarish fantasy) moves with a surreal efficiency. It certainly doesn’t look like a $400,000 movie, and it’s delightful to discover which of the gags (like the coconut halves) were born from a need for low-budget workarounds. If you’re truly and irreversibly burnt out from this movie, watch it again with commentary, and discover the second level of appreciation that comes from the inventiveness with which it was made. There are so many jokes in this movie, and it’s surprising how easily we forget that, considering its reputation. Holy Grail is, indeed, the most densely packed comedy in the Python canon. But, if you try and distance yourself from the over-saturation factor, and revisit the film after a few years, you’ll find new jokes that feel as fresh and hysterical as the ones we all know. Or, in my case, of repeating full scenes to people as a clueless, obsessive nerd. Nowadays, when we hear a “flesh wound,” a “ni!” or a “huge tracts of land,” our first thoughts are often of having full scenes repeated to us by clueless, obsessive nerds. It sucks that some of the shine has been taken off Holy Grail by its own overwhelming ubiquity. Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Connie Booth Here are the best comedies on Netflix as of July 2023. Again, for the purpose of these rankings I’m looking at how funny a movie is alongside how well made it is-meaning you might see some absolutely hilarious comedies that aren’t that well respected by critics coming in higher than better reviewed, more technically proficient films. Let’s take a quick trip through the funniest movies on Netflix right now. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you won’t have any problem finding something hilarious to watch. We can’t complain, though–we’ll take any opportunity to watch those two ’70s favorites again.) This is on top of the Monty Python movies, which it has long-term exclusive rights to, and its burgeoning roster of great originals. (Wait: those last two made me realize this is probably a targeted Father’s Day play. The streamer has replenished its lineup by adding a handful of bona fide classics, including Mean Girls, Bridesmaids, Rush Hour, Groundhog Day, Slap Shot, and Smokey and the Bandit. Netflix’s selection of comedies is better this month than it’s been in a long time.
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