545. Life Of Brian (1979)

Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin

Director: Terry Jones

Running Time: 94 mins

Life Of Brian is a British film about a man called Brian, conveniently born in the stable next to Jesus on the original Christmas, who spends his entire life being mistaken for the messiah, even though he’s a very naughty boy.

Well, you’ve got to love this film! A classic combination of idiotic Monty Python farce, and some of the most hilarious and clever religious satire I’ve ever seen, managing to successfully take the mick out of the entire foundation of one of the most powerful religions in the world.

But there’s nothing really wrong with this film, it’s not making fun of Jesus, God or the Bible, it’s just the funny story of Brian, whose life unfolds into one of the strangest and most hilarious you could ever think of, meeting all sorts of people from Caesar Tiberius to a naked man in a hole in the middle of some desert in Israel.

Honestly, the comedy in this is just so random, you can’t believe it. Never will you expect that embarking on such a biblical journey as the life of Brian will let you meet the idiots of the People’s Front of Judea, and their arch-enemies, the Judean People’s Front, a grammar-loving Roman general, and a man singing to his death as he hangs from a crucifix.

That’s definitely one of the best movie moments of all time. ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’ is not only a stupidly hilarious song, it completely reverses all of the seriousness of the concept of crucifixion, and introduces a classically catchy song with an uplifting tone.

Moving away from the brilliant comedy, this film is also a fantastic satire on the entire concept of religion. It brings in the fact that the following of some prophet is completely mindless, and that Jesus, sorry, Brian, may have actually just been some random guy, and not the deity that it would seem.

So you can see why this film got a lot of controversy, but if you can accept that this is just poking fun at religion, rather than trying to insult it, it makes for an absolutely hilarious watch, and that’s why I’ll give it an 8.5.