Life of Brian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Here’s a fact about jokes: if you don’t like them you will not like this double bill and you can save the next few minutes of your life and click on the next (and most likely delightful) story that Torontoist has to offer. If, on the other hand, you think comedy is the elixir of life, the highest form of human existence and best expressed through amputations, flying cows, and mindless repetition, then a Monthy Python double bill should tickle your proverbial fancy.
Playing back-to-back are the pinnacles (yes, pinnacles we say!) of filmic funniness during Projection Booth’s Python-a-thon (tagline: There will be llamas). In many ways it is hard to review or recap Monthy Python films, not only for the absurdity of their content (so there’s this leper, but he is really perky…) but more so since the films themselves are generally tangled with nostalgic personal memories. Arguably, any film is, but yet there is something iconic about the first time you laughed at the mistaken identity of the Messiah or poorly animated disembodied limbs popping out of clouds. But we digress, for those already in the Christmas spirit (bah humbug we say) then Life of Brian should succinctly fulfill your need for mangers and Bethlehem as well as moronic Romans. For those in the medieval mindset, Holy Grail will teach you less about the period than Medieval Times (but here at a fraction of the cost and with no horse manure smell) as the King Arthur legend is bastardized beautifully.
Old fans, rejoice. Full size laughs on the big screen. And for those who have never seen it, carpe diem and all that jazz!