MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE (1983) - ***1/2

After mocking the King Arthurian myth into a widespread cult picture, and for having the gaul to actually question religion in LIFE OF BRIAN, the Bad Boys of Britain went for one last cinematic ride before they split for their own different paths, with the idea of more movies nixed with Graham Chapman's death in 1989.

After being unable to come up with a plot, plus dozens of humorous if unconnected sketches, Monty Python decided instead to go back to their FLYING CIRCUS television roots and make for a sketch picture, though one with a very flimsy theme being that of life itself, and maybe a half-ass meaning of it as well.

I do agree this is the worst of their films, but that isn't a criticism. Fuck, the worst of Monty Python is still better than the career best of most comedy teams. In fact, at its strongest moments, THE MEANING OF LIFE is arguably among the squad's best comedy work. This would include Terry Gilliam's-helmed short movie where elderly workers revolt against their corporate masters and proceed to raid Wall Street as pirates, young Catholic boys and girls singing about how every sperm is sacred, the wonders of live organ transplants, and of course, find the fish!

While Python toyed with the conventions of musical segments previously, they decided to go full-fledged this time. My personal favorite has to be Eric Idle's song about the universe. Learn true facts of your reality, and laugh before you realize how insignificant you really are.

However, the movie is hampered by the fact that without an actual "story" to connect all the tales (perhaps they could have had the movie be simply the quite lousy life of one limey chump?), the cinematic narrative loses some of its energy, even as we still swim through Python's anarchy of humor.

Still, its quite interesting how the movie ends with a brief replaying of the old MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS television theme on a floating television set in space, with Gilliam's iconic animation going on. Did the guys somehow know this was to be their swain song?