Religulous Review

Anybody who has seen an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher or Politically Incorrect knows that Maher is an atheist and isn't afraid to tell you that. Maher has made a career out of his political humor and his skepticism on religion so it's only fitting that he would come out with a humorous yet provacative documentary about it. From the title itself you can immediately tell what Maher's position is (Religulous is a mashup of the words Religion and Ridiculous). It's from here that we are taken on a 2 hour journey that spans the globe and every culture to get to the bottom of religion and if it is a farce.

Now the one thing that this movie did well, is that it doesn't necessarily tell you how to think and just lays the facts and opinions out there for you to figure out on your own. We are not force fed Maher's views and he even sheds a lot of light as to how he became an atheist and how the one time he made a "deal with god" it actually did pay off. We are introduced to Maher's mother and sister and the movie starts off with a journey in Bill's past where we can see how he was raised in a religiously conflicted environment because his dad was Catholic and his mom was Jewish. His family quit the church when he was age 13, and since then he hasn't looked back.

Maher got the help of Borat director Larry Charles for this doc and there is a similarity in the style and tone of both movies. The one thing I didn't like was how Religulous trys to knock down its interviewees a notch before they even say a word, as it shows them getting mic'ed up or situated for the interview and Maher is using this to rely on them doing something embarassing or stupid. It doesn't work and feels unneeded, if his whole agenda is to let the facts speak for themselves then why try to immediately invalidate your guest? Maher does do a good job of covering all of the major religions, Christian's/Jew's/Muslim's/Hindu's and even talks about some ancient Egypt and Persian religions of which he believes a lot of the stories of Jesus Christ were copied from.

Maher deeply talks about the differences in science and religion and his message at the end is pretty strong, but at the same time I don't expect people to drop their faith after seeing one documentary. Maher exploits a lot of religious leaders for the businessmen that they really are, and shows just how ridiculous some of the stuff that so called "rational" and "intelligent" people actually believe in. I'm sure he had trouble finding big name guests willing to be a part of this, but he certainly has his fair share of middle class americans who are passionate about what they believe in, even though it could certainly be proven wrong. Once again, this rings a familiar tone with Borat as the first part of the movie also is set in the midwest and southern states.

Overall, this movie is intended to get you to think a little bit and open your mind which is where I think it does succeed. It can certainly make for a heated debate when you and your friends get out of the theater, but in the end like every other argument surrounding religion, nobody knows who is right and who is wrong. Maher closes with a strong note, showing a lot of graphic imagery of wars that he claims were started by religion. Would the world be a happier place with out it? Or is man's ego so strong that we would still have these acts of brutality and violence so one can claim their dominance over another? It's hard to really say if this movie answered any solid questions and while there is humor there, if you don't like Bill Maher you won't be changing your mind with this doc. I suggest a dvd rental or cable viewing with some pal's you can discuss it with, but not worth the $10 bucks at your local cineplex, as there does get to be parts in the middle where I was checking my watch. I would be interested in seeing more movies from Maher as I am a fan of his cable series and Religulous is certainly classic Maher at its best, but with a topic so controversial I don't know if he quite left the viewers with what he was looking for.

7/10