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Religulous |  | Director: Larry Charles
Actors: Bill Maher, Steve Burg, Francis Collins, George Coyne, Jeremiah Cummings
Studio: Lions Gate
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $17.49
as of 3/13/2010 18:17 MST details
Rating:  reviews
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: LGED24862D
UPC: 031398105404
EAN: 0031398105404
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
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Amazing in Many Ways March 11, 2010
Joseph J. Slevin (Carlsbad, CA United States)
There are two sides to this video that amazes me. He does a lot of work aiming at the three big religions of what has been at the core of disputes in the west and middle to near east.
Maher, growing up Catholic with a Jewish mother, had a ton of questions as a kid, he even asks his mom some whys about his upbringing while sitting in a church near his home town. Funny at times, yet, what truly amazed me is the absolute patience of the clerics that he challenges on film. He is not on his show as he asks embarrassing questions though. He is in 'their house' so to speak. Some times he is down right rude. I can understand challenging someone in a Bill type of way if invited to talk to them on neutral or even your own turf, but inside someones home or in a chapel or synagogue or Mosque, I mean really. These people, for all of the fault the non religious would find with them, really were restrained in their responding to outright insults from Maher.
Even the truckers, in the chapel where he interviewed them, these big burly guys, being patient with him as he cusses and makes fun of their religion in their small refuge from the world. What simply amazed me is that he said in this particular case, where these men and women are on the road away from family, have decided to at least avoid drugs, alcohol, prostitution and other vices while being required to sit for long stretches after their maximum driving times.
I think to question the sanity of things religious when it is used for war and not used for peace is a definate need. He mentions Jesus' life and attempts to match that with earlier religions of Egypt. He lists quickly a few things that he says are facts, which, even those who study in the religious community and have a more liberal bent on things have said are not true. So, his facts fall short in this area.
I am currently reading a book that is more of a travel log. It's title is" Tea With Hezbollah. In the book, the authors are looking for the attitude of the Good Samaritan in the religions of the middle east. Insightful to say the least, without the vitriol.
Bill Maher is funny, and out there some times to the extreme. Yet, a parody, and even a satirical look at what we believe sometimes can help us to say, hey, do I really want to look like that or come across that way. He definately strikes a cord when the president states that he is doing the things he does for God.
Religilous is not for the faint of heart. If one is a believer, at least use it to ask yourself, if you are like that or not. Another book that views the three religions in a similar way is Baigent's Racing Toward Armageddon.
 Defeat Pious and Narrow-Minded Thinking... By Being Pious and Narrow-Minded March 11, 2010
Mike (Here and There)
Synopsis: Bill Maher explores the Abrahamic religions and looks to figure out exactly why people preach that their faith system is a "religion of peace" when so many manipulate the message of their religion to suit their own agendas, no matter how selfish, misguided, or violent it can be. Bill uses various arguments to debunk ideologies using either scientific evidence or the teachings of ancient religions to show how religions can be seemingly manufactured instead of being divinely inspired. Will Bill find a new spiritual path by the end of the film or will he make the decision that no religion is the right religion?
A little bit of a self-disclaimer. As far as Maher's political views go, I agree with the overwhelming majority of them (I'm not for capital punishment but that's probably the only thing we'd disagree on politically speaking.) As far as spiritual views go, I don't follow a religion; I do believe in God and The Holy Spirit the way I believe breathing air is essential to my survival. That may skew how I look at it but there isn't one person who reviewed this film that doesn't have a bias so if anything, you're just as guilty as I am for having an opinion.
Now, Maher does present a logical argument that shows how hypocrisy is very well tolerated within different faith systems, as well as showing how people who are fundamentally religious can be pushed to excessive violence once someone demonstrates a belief that's different from what they've been taught. However, when it comes to having a belief, there was only a black and white argument that either you are part of a religion (and are ignorant) or should be a free thinking athiest or, at best, agnostic (and are your own individual.) Never did it really suggest that you can be spiritual based off of your own ideas but rather it's one or the other. Yes, you can't scientifically prove the existance of God, but you can't scientifically disprove the existance of God either (I'll entertain any responses that don't involve disproven bible quotes because I'm not talking about a religion here, I'm talking about the bigger picture.)
It was still entertaining and watching people squirm for being hypocrites was kinda fun, so if you wanna see people look dumb for being disproven, go for it. Maybe Maher was being Maher for the sake of entertainment, but he acted like his "s" smelled like roses... and roses really smell like poo-poo-poo-ooo. All and all, worth renting and then worth buying if you liked it.
 Great Mockumentary March 7, 2010
Howitt H. Underwood II (APO, AE United States)
I can't stand Bill Maher but this mockumentary was very entertaining and I loved it. In the spirit of Roger & Me, Bill doesn't exactly match wits with brainiacs but that in itself can support the point of the movie- American Society can be characterized as blind sheep living according to myth and legend and at a larger level, the world is in constant conflict due to religion. The time taken to look at the situation in Holland was brilliant and timely as we in the midst of a show-down between Geert Wilders and an overly-accommodating Dutch government. The blank looks to simple questions are many and damning and the good Senator from Arkansas demonstrates on many occassions what's wrong with our government.
Again, I am not a fan at all of Bill Maher, I think he's a smug uber-liberal but I have watched this film three times and will again and again. There seems to be no home for a conservative Agnostic/Atheist LOL
 Pretentious March 6, 2010
Michael E. Mesce (Chicago)
Yes, Bill. We get it. Humans cannot prove God exists. Throughout this movie, Bill will successfully drive this point home. I like "Real Time," and also enjoy Bill's standup. He is funny, and this movie is too. What I didnt like was the complete lack of respect in certain scenes (particularly the scene involving the small baptist church in a trailer). He barges up to the altar, slamming his hands down, telling them there is no God. I guess its just me, because this movie got a lot of great reviews, but what he did there totally turned me off for the rest of the movie. It's a funny movie, Bill is obviously smart and talks to many interesting characters.
Astonishingly Mediocre February 16, 2010
Liam le Silencieux (Mesa, AZ)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
One of Maher's greatest virtues as a comic is his ability to think on his feet, and it often shines here. He's quick with his replies, and can keep pace with the best when it comes to interacting with people. True, some of his jokes are crude and they never rise above a glib rejoinder to others, but he is entertaining.
Unfortunately, this film is more 'Real Time' than 'Politically Incorrect.' Rather than a collection of people discussing the varieties of religious experience, Maher picks and chooses his targets carefully, focusing on the more outrageous, absurd, and downright silly elements of religion as a means of proving that all religions are equally dumb.
The end result is a film with less than modest ambitions but not a sliver of the effort or risks needed to crystallize them. Anyone with critical thinking skills on either side of this debate should leave this movie slightly underwhelmed.
Others have noted, correctly, that Maher ignores entirely Eastern religious tradition, but I'll chalk that up to the Heinlein's Razor ("Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence") rather than some underhanded agenda.
No, the biggest problems with the film are the way Maher uses any number of underhanded tactics (misleading interviewees, unflattering editing, talking over them) to get the better of his subjects when they refuse to act like the blithering idiot Maher wishes them to. This would be much more enjoyable if he weren't attempting to hold up these exchanges as if they held any meaning beyond your average truck driver's inability to explain why "original sin" isn't the Bible. But Maher instead comes across assured that this segments demonstrates just that. Does he think St. Augustine is just a city in Florida?
No exchange better sums up Maher's agenda or intellectual dishonesty than his interview with Francis Collins. Dr. Francis Collins is an M.D. who has done groundbreaking work on cystic fibrosis and the human genome. He is also, unfortunately for Maher, openly Christian. Maher and company edit the segment with Collins so it appears right out of a Michael Bay film, replete with superfluous jump cuts and angle changes.
Collins is presented tripping over his tongue trying to explain the historically reliability of the Gospels. Now, one might wonder why Maher is speaking with a doctor on the subject of ancient history. If he were to ask detailed questions about the double helix to an historian, would it prove that DNA is meaningless? Maher questions the existence of the Jesus of history and insists that the origins of Christian dogma are borrowed from other traditions. Unfortunately, he offers not a single source when making them. If doubt is the virtue he claims it to be, he sure does expect the audience to take much of what he says on faith.
None of this would matter if Maher was selling his own skepticism instead of condescendingly demand we all embrace his. The exchange with George Coyne, a Jesuit with a PhD in astrophysics and former head of the Vatican Observatory, is less than two minutes. He spends more than twice as long with a preacher who used to be in Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. One might wonder why the Vatican even had an observatory, but that's obviously not as important to Maher as finding out where Jeremiah Cummings got his clothes.
This is the film's fatal flaw. A good ribbing on the absurdities of belief if one thing, and considering the substance of his interviews, that's all Maher has earned. Instead, he ends the film with a deeply strange but very sincere secular sermon declaring that we all must change our ways or the end is nigh.
I do give Maher credit for not asking for money, though at that point in the film, it's a safe bet the audience has already paid for their tickets.
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