The Life of Brian (1979)

The Life of Brian
Directed by Terry Jones
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
1979/UK
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

This film seems funnier every time I watch it.

Brian (Graham Chapman) was born in a stable in Bethlehem next to the one occupied by the Baby Jesus and his parents. His mother Mandy (Terry Jones) is a shrill old harridan. The three wise men (Chapman, John Cleese and Michael Palin) stop by the wrong stable first.

So begins a series of mistaken identities that get Brian in a heap of trouble. Along the way we get aquainted wth the inept People’s Front of Judea. Irreverent religious, political, and dirty jokes abound along with some general absurdity.

It takes me a while to get in the right head space for Monty Python but once I do I always laugh. Recommended.