Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

mellowinman It was just awful in every possible way. We have a bunch of people who look vaguely like some of the Pythons doing jokes that would have never made the cut on the real show, in an attempt to stylize the story of the Life of Brian into a Python piece. Why would anyone do that? Their portrayals were not good at all, and made it so it was impossible to view the actual story without violently throwing up every few minutes, although that could have been the flu. Scene 10, where the monkeys come out and re-write the Magna Carta, while swimming in a large bowl of Chicken Aspic, was simply in poor taste, and was not an accurate depiction of the Amish who dwell along the French Riviera. Please do not watch this.

backflipboy I was too young to know about the controversy surrounding "The Life Of Brian" when it was first released, but in my adult years I discovered that not everyone felt the same way I did about the film - their loss.Casting of the actors playing Monty Python cast was just about perfect from a visual point of view. The only issue I had was with the actor portraying Terry Gilliam not being able to fake an American accent effectively.There are so many shout outs to the way the Flying Circus series was made in this film to make it almost seem like the original cast had made it in the early '80's and it had gotten lost somewhere and recently found and broadcast.The irony of Stephen Fry portraying his particular character is outstanding.I laughed out loud a lot while watching this "mockudramedy" and I would have given it a 10 star rating if not for the aforementioned bad American accent.

Alec West I've been a Python fan for a very long time - buying their comedy albums on vinyl before their "Flying Circus" show ever aired in the U.S. I have the entire "Flying Circus" series and every one of their films on DVD. And when I heard "Holy Flying Circus" was coming out, I anticipated a totally different film than what I ended up seeing.When "Life of Brian" premiered, I was managing a theater in Portland, Oregon. Two of my snack bar workers (sisters) were members of a fundamentalist Christian sect. And before the film had even been released (so they could personally judge its worth), they both refused to work as long as the theater was showing the film. I tried very hard to explain to them that this film was NOT meant as a satire on Jesus Christ himself - but was, instead, meant as a satire on the times in which Jesus lived. But, their minds were already made up.Out of respect for their feelings on the matter (though I disagreed with them), I did not fire them - choosing instead to hire temporary replacement workers until the film ended its run.To sum this film up in a word, it was "unfunny." But it was an unfunny film that was trying to be funny. As it happens, I was hoping for an unfunny film that was unfunny on purpose - a film that seriously explored the ordeal the Pythons had to go through as a result of the film's reception by fundamentalist Christians.Now ... I suspect the actors in this film were trying to offer a tribute to the Pythons by imitating their style. And as the old saying goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." But I found it unsettling considering the real-life pressure (ie., death threats, effigy burnings, etc.) the Pythons were under during this time (not to mention certain theater managers).

geordiejohn12 Very, very funny film. The first one that's had me in fits of laughter for years. The film mixes fact with homages to the jokes in the original film and also brings in various references from other characters that the original cast have played. The characters look very much like their real life counterparts too, so when I first started watching it I thought I was seeing a documentary. The film never takes itself too seriously, as it slips in references to the present day, despite being set in the past, and the humour is something that would sit very happily at the top of the Monty Python league. Very clever film.