John Cleese Packs It In review former Python goes on the road in sickness and in health

"The long and fabled history of Monty Python has now reached its footnotes and afterthoughts era. After years of interpersonal disputes, multiple forays into the culture war and one very expensive divorce, 85-year-old John Cleese goes solo with a thin 80-minute travelogue, undertaking a European mini-tour while enduring a roll call of ailments (partial deafness, bone spurs, vertigo) which appears at least as substantive as his onstage material."

"Near-relentless gripes and grievances that mesh with Cleese's recent media profile, ranging from the endless repacking to being filmed at all hours. (Perhaps understandable, given director Andy Curd's often unflattering angles.) Also lambasted: audiences who refuse to titter at such routines as the one in which Cleese spends a small eternity hacking up phlegm. We get oddly little of the show itself, instead there's much B-roll filler in fish markets and cheese shops, and an unlovely photomontage of the comic's battered big toe."

"Sporadically, the old silliness and joy poke through. Cleese is tickled to have had a lemur named after him, and his curiosity is reawakened by a Buddhist temple. (The most illuminating aspect is archival: footage of the comic's 1991 sit-down with the Dalai Lama.) But sustained inner peace seems out of reach, and even his more jocular asides have an ungenerous edge. The Michael Palin-razzing sounds far more sour than fond; and on hearing of one ex-wife's passing, Cleese quips it was the wrong one."

An 80-minute travelogue follows 85-year-old John Cleese on a European mini-tour as he copes with partial deafness, bone spurs, vertigo, and other ailments. Cleese openly admits financial motives, and much of the program consists of near-relentless gripes about repackaging, being filmed, and unsympathetic audiences. The stage material is scarce, replaced by B-roll of fish markets, cheese shops, and a photomontage of a battered toe. Moments of joy appear: a lemur named after him, curiosity at a Buddhist temple, and archival footage of a 1991 sit-down with the Dalai Lama. Overall, the performance feels fragile, frazzled, and intermittently sour.

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