As a lifelong Monty Python fan, I was delighted when the ABC (Australia) finally aired this film. I should have known what I was letting myself in for when, in the first five minutes, Jesus Christ turns around, bends over and expels a long, loud, robe-billowing fart in someone's face.I'm surprised that, reading the reviews on this site alone, so many self-confessed Python fans love this film. Granted, it attempts to emulate the Python spirit by often segueing to absurdist/fantasy/dream sequences, and the ensemble company feel of the cast each adopting several roles. In the end, however, it merely comes across as a bunch of modern-day comedians who grew up on a steady diet of Python, tried desperately to emulate them, and fail miserably. The whole piece is painfully unfunny (though I confess I did laugh twice).The acting, while competent, was disappointing; the Pythons are caricatured as opposed to portrayed. Graham Chapman's is the most offensive, being depicted as a lisping, mincing, pipe-smoking queen who mentions his homosexuality at every given opportunity. Terry Gilliam is shown as a wild-eyed, eccentric Yank. Terry Jones comes across as a public-school-educated Elmer Fudd. Eric Idle it seems is a money-grubbing miser, though I thought Steve Punt gave an excellent turn here. Stephen Fry is dryly funny as God, but that could be because Fry thinks he IS God.The humour descends to rank callousness as the script rips mercilessly on people with speech impediments, Tourettes Syndrome and other social disabilities. Something the original Pythons would have deemed beneath them. The film only briefly picks up in the last act with a fairly accurate portrayal of the televised debate. If they'd just stayed along this course, with the odd splash of humour thrown in to lighten the subject, this could have been such a good presentation of one of the more interesting chapters in film history.John Cleese has disowned this film, and I can see why. Avoid at all costs, unless your Python obsession plummets into the depths of sado-masochism.

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.

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.

Absolutely superb piece of television, the very well judged performances are spot on and the Pythons are portrayed extremely well. The period of time is beautifully rendered and the entire madness of unwavering beliefs and the ramifications therein are dealt with magnificently and with a great deal of integrity. The way they worked many of the Monty Python staples such as very obvious drag and so on into the piece were masterfully done, all in all and with everything considered to be honest I couldn't stand it ;)(why waffle on aimlessly and without rational thought like Malcolm Muggeridge and THE BISHOP! when you can express your view succinctly)