Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Micitype Pretty Good

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

MartinHafer This is a harmless mock documentary made just before the TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" debuted. It stars John Cleese, but Michael Palin and Graham Chapman are on hand as well as a few others. But, most importantly, this is not a Python production and the chemistry of the later television show is not evident here since it lacks many key actors/writers. Most will find the show mildly interesting at best or even a tad dull because it lacks the crazy humor and polish of later productions. Die-hard Python fans will fall into one of two camps--those who love the show but are reasonable people who can admit this is far from great and those who see EVERY production any Python member participates as pure gold (these are known as "the Kool-Aid Drinkers"). I love the Monty Python series having seen it innumerable times, but I just can't recommend this show unless you are really curious or really bored.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Before the Flying Circus, before the movies, before the Python team was complete, they put together this... well, half or so of them, did, anyway. This is a series of sketches(more than one of which were later re-done on the show) all based around the concept that the title describes. Cleese has Chapman and Palin with him, and they manage to put a lot of good skits on the screen. It's not as refined and well-done as the show and the movies, but it's a good look at the Pythons roots(and what admirable roots, at that). It runs for an hour and less than ten minutes, and it does so quite smoothly. The jokes are never far away, and some of them are utterly hilarious. The pacing is pretty much spot-on, if some skits perhaps go on for longer than they ought to. The material never feels tired or bland(if some of it is overused). The performances are energetic, enthusiastic and just plain *work*. It's not as far-out and bizarre as the show and the movies are, but it's still satisfying and entertaining. The bits are all different, and this has the first appearance by(and the spoken definition of, coining that as their name) "pepperpots", who would be seen countless times on the Circus. The whole production is presented as a documentary with Cleese as the host, introducing each segment and occasionally making jokes in-between them. For any fan of the team, I would say that this is worth the hour. I recommend this to any fan of the Pythons, Cleese and British comedy in general. 7/10

policy134 Every comedian today has been inspired by Monty Python in some way but if you look at this hour long show it's a wonder why Monty Python were ever successful. This was made a year before "Flying Circus" minus the two Terries and Eric Idle.There are some amusing skits here and there like the "Fake consideration" skit with Cleese going on and on of making sure that Connie Booth (his sweetheart at the time) is comfortable but they only produce mild giggles and to that the "Indian Restaurant" skit is embarrassing is understatement to the max.The "Job Interview" which was recreated in "Circus" truly doesn't work with an actor other than Graham Chapman and it's a darn shame that I saw this after "Circus" because it has tainted that absolutely hilarious skit. If I had seen this first I might have felt differently but I think that it is so poorly timed and executed that it's a wonder they did indeed recreate it in "Circus".So if you want to preserve the memory of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" as the truly innovative and the most hilarious comedy series ever, please do not watch this. It's a waste of time.

earnail This is a pleasing spinoff of Monty Python (featuring at least one MP sketch that I know of - the interview) in which John Cleese does a remarkable job of sticking to the point (irritation). Some of the non-Monty Python actors seemed out of place to me for that reason, but you can't hold that against them.In general, a very amusing discourse on a totally pointless topic (that's a good thing).