LogFAQs > #972300333

11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
Score: 130

Forty: 1
Poke: 2
Mythiot: 3
Vis: 3
John: 13
Suprak: 15
Karo: 17
Plasma: 22
GavsEvans: 26
Tangy: 28

1. Forty
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? What is my name? fortybelowsummer. What is my quest? To seek the holy grail. What is my favorite comedy movie? Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I cant say enough about how much I love this movie. Almost every scene is iconic, from the French taunter, to the killer rabbit, to the knights who say Ni to the bridge keeper. And thats not including many other 10/10 scenes. My personal favorite might be Arthur talking to the peasant man (hes 37 hes not old), but its so hard to choose. I know British humor isnt for everyone but to me it's perfect and no one nails satire with such absurdity, sarcasm, and self-deprecation. Ive seen Holy Grail a million times and still laugh at my favorite scenes. Number One yaaaaayyyy.

3. Mythiot
The Pythons silver screen debut (not counting their compilation filim) is a cornerstone of nerd culture for a reason. It oozes chaotic silliness and quotable lines like blood from a flesh wound or ink from an upturned well after an animator has a sudden heart attack. Overambitious with its shoestring budget like a stuffy European swallow laden with coconuts, this send-up of Arthurian legend faux-gallops from one scene to the next, caring little for narrative or innocent bystanders, or the majesty of the Swedish moose as it throws hilarious joke after joke toward you like barnyard animals from a French-occupied castle. The only weak spots were the tales of Galahad and Lancelot. Admittedly they are a lot funnier if youre familiar with the source material, but they bring the film to a halt and I just wanted them to GET ON WITH IT!

3. Vis
I love this movie. Its amazingly quotable, and it manages to keep itself fresh with each new scene and new styles of comedy throughout its runtime. Sometimes it plays the Arthurian setting straight, and lets the comedy come from the situations the characters find themselves in, but sometimes you get great fourth wall breaks, or absurdity and wordplay. For a movie made by a sketch troupe, its amazing that they took a central narrative and ran it to a satisfactory conclusion (with a complete non-conclusion that ties up the loose ends sprinkled throughout the film.) Finally, I want to give special commendations to the Lancelot castle-storming scene, which has long been my favorite sequence in the film. To this day, I will occasionally shuffle around and mime firing an arrow like Herbert in his tower, or just mimicking the Herbert voice. I just really love the film, and its a good sign that the early showing on this list is already strong.

13. John
It's really hard to just go into watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail, simply because of how it already exists in pop culture. I never watched the entirety of Holy Grail start to finish, but I still knew about every single joke the movie was going to make because almost every scene has been adapted and repeated out of context of the rest. I mean, it's for good reason I guess, as the jokes are mostlyfunny, though there's definitely something lost from not being able to experience it fresh (Life of Brian I hadn't seen nearly as much from going in, and it benefitted the humor a lot). I certainly enjoyed Holy Grail, though I can't really say it's something I'd consider a favorite

17. Karo
A group of dysfunctional knights with some unusual horses go on a quest for the One Cup to Rule Them All.
There are quite a few iconic scenes such as the holy hand grenade and the black knight, but unfortunately a lot of the film is unfocused and doesn't really mesh well together into a whole. This, combined with the very low production quality, makes it feel more like I'm watching a bunch of guys LARPing on YouTube.
It still is quite funny, and is charmingly weird in the way the comedy troupe generally is. Maybe it would have worked batter as a TV miniseries? -shrug-

22. Plasma
Allow me to dismount from my imaginary horse and share my thoughts on this one. First of all, British Comedy is not my thing. Second, I hated Holy Grail the first time I watched it about ten years ago because I knew most of the jokes going into it (my middle school classmates never stopped quoting this movie).

Anyway, I came into this rewatch with zero expectations. I expected to rank Holy Grail in my Bottom 5, but it turned out to betolerable. I like the way it toys with various fantasy tropes, and there were a few segments that genuinely made me laugh: Brave Sir Robin Ran Away, the bridge scene, etc. I even like how they commit to stupid little jokes like the imaginary horses. And I love the way the different storylines merge on a structural level. Good stuff.

That said, for most of Holy Grails runtime, I kept checking the clock and wishing this thing would end. There are too many dumb jokes and too much idiotic banter that overstays its welcome. D+

26. GavsEvans
Years ago, I went through a big Monty Python phase. I watched all the iconic sketches, learned the sketches to recite them, and watched all the films, with the exception of the Holy Grail. For this, I watched some scenes, like the Knights who say Ni and the Black Knight, but I never did get around to watching the full film until now. This list gave me an opportunity to right a wrong, and I was looking forward to this film because of that. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed in this one, as I had seen the best parts already, so the rest didnt add as much as I would have liked.

The plot, such as it is, involves King Arthur and his knights going on a quest to find the Holy Grail, but that isnt really important. Its more of a framing device for the various sketches the knights get involved in. These can be funny in their absurdity, although there are some that drag on for too long or are simply too odd. They sure do like their anti-climaxes, with some scenes ending abruptly and moving on. The film ends, or more appropriately stops, on a particularly infamous one!

If you havent seen this film yet, there isnt much of a reason to rectify that to be honest. Find a highlight reel of the best parts and watch that instead. Then again, since the best parts are all the most quotable ones, you probably know them all already.

28. Tangy
I think this movie got one chuckle out of me this entire rewatch. Holy Grail might have earned its spot in pop culture fandom, but Im super over it at this point. Sure the Black Knight and Holy Hand Grenade are iconic, but having heard them repeated ad nauseam has ruined them for me. Making matters worse is theres a whole bunch of bits that just dont work imo. The Knights Who Say Ni and the witch scene are perfect examples. The comedy is literally just born out of characters being stupid and nonsensical for the humor of it. In fact now that I think about it, his movie kind of birthed Internet humor didnt it?

Overall I get why people adore this movie and Im in no way denying its importance, but it didnt land at all for me.

Biggest Laugh: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?