Most critics find Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life funny enough to reward its unevenness, with praise centred on its irreverence, imaginative sketches and willingness to be tasteless. The reviews repeatedly single out ‘Every Sperm Is Sacred’ and the insurance clerks’ mutiny among the memorable sequences. Eye for Film also praises the dialogue, performances and Gilliam animations, arguing that the sketch format suits the team despite the lack of a conventional narrative.
The spread runs from qualified appreciation to firmer enthusiasm, rather than outright rejection. Reservations concern weak individual sketches, a piecemeal structure and spectacle that sometimes gets in the way of the comedy. The New York Times favours the smaller, more intimate scenes over the elaborate production. Particular sequences divide opinion too: Radio Times admires the financial institution’s pirate episode but finds the restaurant gluttony nasty, while Eye for Film considers the opening short out of place.