Posted by sean at threshold8n.jpmorgan.com on May 24, 2002 at 12:31:03:
In Reply to: Monty Python and the Holy Grail posted by Chewbacca Loves Me on May 24, 2002 at 11:47:42:
It's flat-out the best-looking comedy ever. Even Stanley Kubrick admired that, and made his entire crew watch it before shooting BARRY LYNDON.
But, seriously, if you can watch a film cut back to the SAME SHOT five times leading up to John Cleese stabbing his way through the most peaceful guards ever, followed by the simple, one word line "Hey" without laughing ... then maybe you shouldn't worry too much about it and watch other comedies instead. It's not something that you can explain, you either get it or you don't.
But, whoever said "If it was done in America, it'd be called slapstick" ... the whole point of Monty Python is that it's every type of comedy simultaneously. Sure, the black knight stuff would be slapstick ... except that all the lines are just as brilliant as the physical stuff. People are too hung up on labels. A friend of mine yesterday called "The Naked Gun" slapstick ... man, that's ignoring a whole lot of the movie. (PS: She didn't mean slapstick, she meant films with stupid lead characters.)