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« ESPN Orders a Season of 'NFL Writers Room' | Main| The Honey Shot » Friday Oct 16 2009 World Premiere: Monty Python: Almost The Complete Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut) @ The Ziegfeld - 10.15.9
Friday, October 16, 2009 at 12:15PM Photo: Dave Cook By: Matt Fried
The Pythons were back in The Big Apple, and they seemed to bring with them the freezing English weather on the night of the world premiere of their documentary, Monty Python: Almost The Complete Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut).
For the last two decades, the five surviving members have been reticent to commit to a documentary – each opting to continue their solo projects, and leave the past in the past. But thanks to the careful hands of IFC, Cleese, Idle, Palin, Gilliam, and Jones finally present to the world their life story as one of the 20th Century’s most important comedy groups.
I’ll be blunt: the film is great. Rather than submitting the audience to another “Greatest Hits” reel, Almost The Complete Truth… painstakingly covers the group’s rise to success (thanks to a half-assed pitch meeting at The BBC), their superstar crossover (thanks to American audiences), and their decision to break-up when the time was right (thanks to a desire to own a beach house in Ibiza). Along with the method, we get a peek into the madness: The Pythons talk honestly about their approach to comedy, as well indulging in character study. Cleese was The Actor; Idle was The Writer; Palin was The Goody-Two Shoes; Jones was The Anchor; Gilliam was The Maverick; and the late Graham Chapman was The Enigma – beloved by his group for his talent and sense of humor, yet he was often distant with them. Chapman’s alcoholism was never a secret, and – in this film – his colleagues aren’t interested in sermonizing about his demons; they have too much respect for him to make him a martyr.
The evening was capped with a 30 minute Q&A after the film with Monty Python. Just like old times, there was fun, laughter, and the entire theater sang-along to Eric Idle’s unplugged version of “The Galaxy Song”. What became as clear on that stage – as it was in the film – is that the members of Monty Python loved each other, and had a wonderful time mocking The Establishment. Their only agenda was to make you laugh; and when they could do it to one another, that was always a sign of the right direction.
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keithhuang | 4 Comments | 3 References tagged Eric Idle , IFC , John Cleese , Matt Fried , Michael Palin , Monty Python , Terry Gilliam , Terry Jones in Red Carpet , Sketch References (3)
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Reader Comments (4)
Nice review, Matt! And nice to see you there last night. I actually did not grow up watching their stuff, so when M. Love invited me to come as his guest, I jumped at the opportunity, but mostly for a fun night out. And I was pleasantly surprised that the film was so interesting and that their discussion afterward was so ridiculous. Good piece of recap, my friend. They are funny, beloved gentlemen.
October 16, 2009 | Jen Curran Great review! I can't wait to see this.
October 16, 2009 | Abbi Crutchfield Pleasure standing next to you in the cold. Great wrap up! Hope to see you about...
A complementary angle on IFC.com:
Laughs, Chills, & Advice at the Monty Python Reunion
October 16, 2009 | kreisler Thanks for the kind words everyone! Jeff - wonderful work!
October 17, 2009 | Matt Fried Post a New Comment
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