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Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

"It took God six days to create the heavens and the earth...and Monty Python ninety minutes to screw it up."

1983-03-31 Comedy 1hr 47m

Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise.

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Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Amazon Video

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Storyline

Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise.

  • Released
    1983-03-31
  • Revenue
    $15,000,000
  • Budget
    $9,000,000
  • Runtime
    1hr 47m
  • Genre
    Comedy
  • Status
    Released
  • Language
    English
  • imdb-logo
    7.5
  • Production
    Celandine Films, The Monty Python Partnership, Universal Pictures

Crew

Terry Jones
Director
Graham Chapman
Screenplay
John Goldstone
Producer
Keywords:
sense of life comedian satire sketch breaking the fourth wall aftercreditsstinger duringcreditsstinger vignette the meaning of life anarchic comedy

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Cast

Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam
Various Roles
Graham Chapman

Graham Chapman
Various Roles
John Cleese

John Cleese
Various Roles
Eric Idle

Eric Idle
Various Roles
Terry Jones

Terry Jones
Various Roles
Michael Palin

Michael Palin
Various Roles
Carol Cleveland

Carol Cleveland
Various Roles
Simon Jones

Simon Jones
Cedric
Patricia Quinn

Patricia Quinn
Mrs. Williams
Judy Loe

Judy Loe
Nurse #1
Andrew Bicknell

Andrew Bicknell
(Segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Andrew MacLachlan

Andrew MacLachlan
Groom
Mark Holmes

Mark Holmes
Severed head
Valerie Whittington

Valerie Whittington
Mrs. Moore
Jennifer Franks

Jennifer Franks
Bride
Imogen Bickford-Smith

Imogen Bickford-Smith
Nurse #2
Angela Mann

Angela Mann
Second guest's wife
Sydney Arnold

Sydney Arnold
Pirate Captain (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Guy Bertrand

Guy Bertrand
Chief Executive (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Matt Frewer

Matt Frewer
Cornered Executive who Jumps (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Michael Caine

Michael Caine
British Soldier (uncredited) (segment "Fighting Each Other")
Barrie Holland

Barrie Holland
Teacher At Rugby Match (uncredited)
Jane Leeves

Jane Leeves
Dancer (uncredited)

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Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Movie Reviews

Reviews for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
reviewer avatar

A Review by Ruuz 6

Written by Ruuz on 2019-04-12

Doesn't hold up as well as some of Monty Python's other work, but there's enough classic moments in here to make it worthwhile watching. ... read more

Doesn't hold up as well as some of Monty Python's other work, but there's enough classic moments in here to make it worthwhile watching. _Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._

reviewer avatar

A Review by FilipeManuelNeto 4

Written by FilipeManuelNeto on 2023-05-08

**I expected much more: this film is a shadow of what it should have been.** I think it's redundant to say what everyone already knows: t... read more

**I expected much more: this film is a shadow of what it should have been.** I think it's redundant to say what everyone already knows: the Monty Python represents the pinnacle of British humor, and if each of those comedians is excellent alone, seeing them together is always an added bonus. This film, however, is a late work by the group, when each of them was starting to have a solo career and the group's notoriety was consolidated. There are incredible partnerships in the artistic world, and if we think about it, we will think of huge music bands, television series or troupes of actors that worked incredibly well and were successful for a certain time. The issue is that many of them did not know how to harmonize a joint existence with the growing commitments of individual agendas. And I think that's what happened with Python, and that helped complicate this project. The film makes us laugh, it has some good moments, but it is a shadow if we try to compare it to “The Holy Grail”, for example. That's the crux of the matter: it's not bad, but it should have been much better, considering the talent of those involved! For me, a good part of the problem comes from the fact that it is a succession of humorous sketches with almost no obvious correlation between them. We can admit that in a TV comedy show, it is done routinely, and it works very well. In a film, greater cohesion, unity and homogeneity are expected. It's not an unbreakable rule, but it was an expectation I had. Another problem with this film is the quality of the humor. We already know that the humor has more puerile moments and others that are frankly acidic, but the film resorts too much to easy laughter and simplistic and unrefined humor: a man who is condemned to death and chooses to fall off a cliff after being chased by naked women; an enormously obese man who, in a fancy restaurant, vomits everything around him and eats a regimental dose of food; a sex education class for totally naive boys (something impossible to believe, even considering the time when the film was made) and with the right to practical and very visual exemplification of the act in the classroom... what's the funny in all this? As I said, the movie has some good moments. I loved the delivery room sketch, I think it's an absolutely delicious sarcasm and that it still works as a critique of the general state of public health services. I also liked Crimson Insurance, which is nothing more than a gigantic parody of Errol Flynn's piracy films, especially “Sea Hawk”, but which has a sympathetic touch and a critique of globalization and unbridled capitalism. Much less pleasant, but equally hilarious, was the huge musical sketch of Irish Catholics, stuffed to the bone with political incorrectness and with very accurate stings to the rejection discourse that the Catholic Church was maintaining with regard to contraceptive methods.

Read Full Review (The thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely those of the reviewer.)
A Review by Gimly

Doesn't hold up as well as some of Monty Python's other work, but there's enough classic moments in here to make it worthwhile watching. _Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._...

reviewer avatar

A Review by Ruuz 6

Written by Ruuz on 2019-04-12

Doesn't hold up as well as some of Monty Python's other work, but there's enough classic moments in here to make it worthwhile watching. _Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend y...

read more
reviewer avatar

A Review by FilipeManuelNeto 4

Written by FilipeManuelNeto on 2023-05-08

**I expected much more: this film is a shadow of what it should have been.** I think it's redundant to say what everyone already knows: the Monty Python represents the pinnacle of British humor, an...

read more