Bill Slocum It's an adjustment seeing classic bits of television comedy being repurposed for the cinema. The first-ever film by TV's Monty Python troupe offers an enjoyable, if rather restrained, showcase of reshot series excerpts.What "And Now For Something Completely Different" lacks in originality, it makes up for in zaniness and wit. Meet a group of elderly ladies who terrorize city streets: "We like pulling the heads off sheep...and tea cakes."Thrill to a fight to the death for the title "Upper-Class Twit of the Year:" "He doesn't know when he's beaten...He doesn't know when he's winning, either. He has no sort of sensory apparatus known to man."Learn why British film directors don't like being called "Eddie Baby," "Angel Drawers," or "Frank," even if President Nixon has a hedgehog by that name.It's also a chance to see the stars of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" with longer hair and shaggier sideburns, except for Terry Gilliam who makes just a couple of token appearances while sticking to animation. John Cleese steals much of the show with his delicious overacting, yet Eric Idle makes the strongest impression as everything from a randy marriage counselor to one of Hell's Grannies. Meanwhile, Terry Jones squints, Michael Palin smirks, and Graham Chapman disapproves of everything. None are as sensational as they would become, but all make impressions.For all that it has going for it, "And Now" connects only about half the time. Gilliam's animation seems slower and more ponderous here than it did on television, and the one-joke nature of his cartoons gets exposed in a way they didn't as television interstitials. A kind of pokiness cuts into the live-action material as well, like bits involving mice that squeal on key when hit with a hammer and men with tape recorders up their noses. Each of these may be only a minute or so, but they feel much longer.Several of Python's best-loved sketches don't appear here, like the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Crunchy Frog. The best-known sketch that does appear, the Dead Parrot, is actually a little dead itself for some reason. Director Ian MacNaughton was Python's usual director for television, and if anything shoots things in an even flatter manner here than he did for the BBC. Perhaps it's because television was Python's medium, for the way it offered a kind of subversive platform for their entertainments.Other sketches do shine. The Funniest Joke in the World is a great laugh unless you're German, in which case view with caution. Even better is the Milkman sketch, which demonstrates the pitfall of falling for the wrong woman.Overall, "And Now" makes for a fine Python primer, a starter course as another reviewer suggests. It's not a landmark film, or even that major a milestone by Python standards, but it delivers some laughs along with a sense of what these guys were about.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Released in 1971, this first feature presentation by the zany Monty Python's troupe is very much like a "greatest hits" album where we have these very funny guys from the UK showcasing some of their most hilariously popular sketches and bizarre animated segments from their long-running TV series of the late 1960s.For anyone who enjoys outrageously odd comedy, this film's compilation is really a fine introduction to Monty Python's peculiar and unique brand of humour.Filled with all sorts of surreal slapstick and supreme silliness, this film includes such unforgettable, comic gems as - The World's Deadliest Joke, Upper-Class Twit Of The Year, Hells Grannies, Dead Parrot, and Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink, to name but a few.For some guaranteed giggles and outright laughs, you can always rely on the Monty Python's gang to deliver the goods..... Check it out!

SnoopyStyle This is a movie distillation of the best Monty Python sketches from series 1 and 2. It's mostly intended for the American audience to introduce them to the popular British TV show. The troop is Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. They form one of the most important group of performer/writers ever.They remade the sketches for the big screen and it looks the better for it. Some of them are more hilarious than others. It's uneven in its nature, but a great highlight of the TV show. The TV show can be a rough dig for each precious gem. So it's great that they gathered up the best gems here. And it's an important piece as the first Monty Python movie.

rebecca-ry 'And Now for Something Completely Different' is basically just a large episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus but this is certainly not a bad thing. Despite the film's lack of plot and confusing format it is still really funny. Of course, because there are so many sketches then there will be some that you won't like, but there will be ones that you will love (the mountaineering sketch is my personal favourite). This can mean that people may grow tired of the film before it ends and - as is always the case with Monty Python - some people will absolutely love it and some people will hate it. Terry Gilliam's animation sequences are also really funny and bizarre. All of the cast perform really well here and have all got their personal best sketch performances in here i.e. Eric Idle's 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' sketch. This is the first of Monty Python's films and it is not their best but it is still really funny. If you are a fan of Monty Python then you will love this film.