The Meaning of Life

Front end: "Don't shoot...don't shoot. We're not a tiger. We were just...um..."
Ainsworth: "Why are you dressed as a tiger?"
[Various random answers]
Rear end: "All right, all right. We are dressed as a tiger because he had an auntie who did it in 1839 and this is the fiftieth anniversary"
Front end: "No we're doing it for a bet"
Rear end: "God told us to do it"
Front end: "To tell the truth, we are completely mad. We are inmates of the Bengali psychiatric institution and we escaped by making this skin out of old cereal packets"
Rear end: "Actually, It's because we were thinking of training as taxidermists and we wanted to get a feel of it from the animals point of view"

It took God six days to create the earth, and Monty Python just 90 minutes to screw it up.

The "Meaning of Life" is various skits with the premise of the cycle of life...connected not by an overall story or character, but by random characters or scenery between scenes. Told in 7 parts here is an overview (and don't worry, this isn't a spoiler, you'll still have no idea what is in store in the ending).

The Crimson Permanent Assurance (Part 1):
Old men who are being oppressed in the Permanent Assurance company rebel and take over the company...and become pirates complete with handmade swords and hooks for hands. They use a desk as a plank and sail their building away to attack other similar companies.
Part 1: The Miracle of Birth
Two doctors (Chapman and Cleese) deliver a baby in a room full of expensive machinery, including the "machine that goes 'Ping'!" The father is ordered out of the room, and the mother is scolded for wanting to know the sex of the baby, because it's too early to be assigning roles.
Part 1: The Miracle of Birth in the 3rd World (Yorkshire)
A Catholic man (Palin) with 63 children sings the song "Every Sperm is Sacred" complete with dance number, to explain to his children that he can no longer support them and will be selling them to science, while his Protestant neighbors watch.
Part 2: Growth & Learning
At a Catholic school for boys the Chaplin leads mass with the theme "Please don't Burn Us". Then the Sex Ed teacher does a live demonstration of sexual techniques with his wife while the students look bored. Ends with allusions to war.
Part 3: Fighting Each Other
Military flubs...a company in war would rather celebrate their commanders birthday than escape to safety...and then in the Zulu War the officers search the jungle for one officers leg, which apparently was taken in a Tiger attack (although they are in Africa...and the officer doesn't know how he lost his leg). The above quote is from this scene.
The Middle of the Film: "Find the Fish"
Weird and Trippy
Part 4: Middle Age
Restaurant conversation between a married couple about the Meaning of Life...but they can't come up with anything, so they ask for a new conversation.
Part 5: Live Organ Transplants
Pretty much self-explanatory...they kill a reluctant (he's fighting for his life) donor, and sing to his wife. Then the Crimson Permanent Assurance tries to take over the film...but they are taken care of.
Part 6: The Autumn Years
Mr. Creosote (Jones) is an incredibly fat, gross man who orders everything on the menu, then eats a wafer-thin mint and explodes. Lots of vomit and nastiness
Part 6 B
Monologues about the meaning of life by a racist cleaning lady (Jones) and then by a waiter (Idle) who takes the camera on a trip
Part 7: Death
Man (Chapman) who makes "gratuitous sexist references in a film" is killed in the manner of his choosing: he is pursued by naked women...and over a cliff. Then Death (Cleese) attends a dinner party to collect all their souls (with a performance by Gilliam looking normal..not under tons of makeup)
The End of the FilmThe real meaning of life.


Overall this film is the most ridiculous of the Monty Python films...and being their last one, it seems to make sense. There are some very funny scenes, and some truly horrible scenes. Way too much nudity and discussion of sex. Otherwise it is alright. "Every Sperm is Sacred" is a funny scene, as is the Military scenes. The Mr. Creosote scene is horrible...but highly memorable. I was glad to not be eating at that point. It was hard to find good quotes or pictures from this film, but I did enjoy it, overall.

Dude, it's quoteable: it may take awhile, but there are some great lines / conversations in this film
Rent it once: it can't hurt to see it once...hell, it's Monty Python, you NEED to see it for that reason alone!

Monty Python's Meaning of Life (1983) 107 minutes
Rating: R for nudity, sexuality, language
Director: Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam
Starring: Graham Chapman as Fish 1 (and others)
John Cleese as Fish 2 / Grim Reaper (and others)
Terry Gilliam as Fish 4 (and others)
Eric Idle as Fish 3 (and others)
Terry Jones as Fish 6 / Mr. Creosote (and others)
Michael Palin as Fish 5 (and others)
Carol Cleveland as Heaven greeter