The six-member comedy group Monty Python had not yet achieved international fame when "And Now for Something Completely Different" was released. It would be four years until "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" accomplished that. "And Now for Something Completely Different" is essentially a greatest hits collection from the first half of their television show. A number of the vignettes are outrageously hilarious. A few are merely puzzling. Alas, a number of them are unfunny. That is the part that surprised me.
The marriage counseling and bikini scenes, among others, seem to rely exclusively on being risqué. In real life, some men freeze and stare at pretty women. Many do utterly stupid things. We all know that. Why are we supposed to automatically laugh when we see it? That type of humor wore off when I was 15. Without some other aspect to the joke, I become uncomfortable. Perhaps that style was funnier in 1971. Humor is subjective and undergoes mild changes with the times.
Happily, "And Now for Something Completely Different" is more oasis than desert. A number of parts are great enough to garner hard laughter from people of all ages. The Pythons choose one of their funniest to open the film. It takes the form of a public service message on "How Not to be Seen." The scene's device takes goofy to a whole new level. It is written with the essence of British humor as the joke is gradually blown up to amazing proportions.
In fact, the parts of the movie that work are based on either developing a situation to total absurdity or portraying circumstances so zany only the Pythons could dream them up. The most notable instance is when a restaurant patron makes an innocent request and receives far more than he wants. The film contains the Dead Parrot sketch, possibly their most famous, and the immortal Lumberjack Song. Among the good scenes, I am partial to the Kilimanjaro expedition and The People Falling out of High Buildings.
Graham Chapman shows up as the straight man and reprises his famous role as the colonel who thinks everything is "too silly." Generally, John Cleese has the most demonstrative roles, Eric Idle remains proper throughout the chaos, Michael Palin plays the most outrageous roles, including the Lumberjack; and Terry Jones excels with the most reserved characters. Terry Gilliam creates the cartoons. Each Python had discovered their strength by that time.
"And Now for Something Completely Different" lacks some sketches that I hoped to see such as the "Spanish Inquisition," "Ministry of Silly Walks," and the exploding penguin. In any case, it is a mix of great and awful with the funny times outnumbering the poor ones. I rated the great scenes as a ten, the good ones as a six and the stupid parts a one. Therefore, "And Now for Something Completely Different rates a 6.4 out of ten, which I round up to seven because it opens and closes well.
The marriage counseling and bikini scenes, among others, seem to rely exclusively on being risqué. In real life, some men freeze and stare at pretty women. Many do utterly stupid things. We all know that. Why are we supposed to automatically laugh when we see it? That type of humor wore off when I was 15. Without some other aspect to the joke, I become uncomfortable. Perhaps that style was funnier in 1971. Humor is subjective and undergoes mild changes with the times.
Happily, "And Now for Something Completely Different" is more oasis than desert. A number of parts are great enough to garner hard laughter from people of all ages. The Pythons choose one of their funniest to open the film. It takes the form of a public service message on "How Not to be Seen." The scene's device takes goofy to a whole new level. It is written with the essence of British humor as the joke is gradually blown up to amazing proportions.
In fact, the parts of the movie that work are based on either developing a situation to total absurdity or portraying circumstances so zany only the Pythons could dream them up. The most notable instance is when a restaurant patron makes an innocent request and receives far more than he wants. The film contains the Dead Parrot sketch, possibly their most famous, and the immortal Lumberjack Song. Among the good scenes, I am partial to the Kilimanjaro expedition and The People Falling out of High Buildings.
Graham Chapman shows up as the straight man and reprises his famous role as the colonel who thinks everything is "too silly." Generally, John Cleese has the most demonstrative roles, Eric Idle remains proper throughout the chaos, Michael Palin plays the most outrageous roles, including the Lumberjack; and Terry Jones excels with the most reserved characters. Terry Gilliam creates the cartoons. Each Python had discovered their strength by that time.
"And Now for Something Completely Different" lacks some sketches that I hoped to see such as the "Spanish Inquisition," "Ministry of Silly Walks," and the exploding penguin. In any case, it is a mix of great and awful with the funny times outnumbering the poor ones. I rated the great scenes as a ten, the good ones as a six and the stupid parts a one. Therefore, "And Now for Something Completely Different rates a 6.4 out of ten, which I round up to seven because it opens and closes well.