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Religulous (2008)

Director: Larry Charles

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From Time Out New York

The issue isn’t so much whether Bill Maher is fair to the people he interviews in Religulous, his Borat-like evisceration of religion (directed by Borat’s own Larry Charles). After all, the project makes no bones about having an agenda, and many of Maher’s targets—the former gay man on an ostensibly holy mission to “cure” gays; evangelical Sen. Mark Pryor, who chortles that “you don’t have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate”; the notion of speaking in tongues—make comic, at times instructive, pay dirt.

But the problem is hardly, as Maher polemically suggests, that religion deters “the progress of humanity.” It’s a free country; people can believe what they want. Maher’s salient subject is the intermingling of faith and policy. (Like 2004’s essential The Power of Nightmares, the movie draws a parallel between extremism in the U.S. and in the Middle East.) The worst scenes in Religulous are appalling for their methods; the best are appalling for their information.

Maher makes a few attempts at moderation. He interviews a Vatican astronomer who’s found a way to reconcile science and belief, as well as the leader of the Human Genome Project, who persists in his faith despite a professional devotion to scientific proof. Still, the movie as a whole feels counterproductive; it doesn’t preach at all to the literal choir. Maher won’t lose this election on his own—we can always blame Oliver Stone for that—but given his penchant for cheap shots, the audience he needs is not the one he’ll get.

Author: Ben Kenigsberg 2008-09-30 17:53:26

Time Out New York Issue 679: October 2 - 8, 2008

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User reviews of this film

  • david said...
    Posted on Feb 09 2009 05:18 A very well constructed, entertaining and generous view of the collective madness of religion. It has always seemed to me that people with no inate sense of wrong or right are the ones drawn to religion. perhaps it gives them a ready made moral code, but it also leaves them unable to say STOP when directed to do unspeakable things by the same religious leaders they honour.
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  • Cait said...
    Posted on Oct 04 2008 13:59 The funniest movie I have seen in a while. I only wish that it was playing in more movie theatres(if the passion of the christ can be in major theatres so should this!), because yes it may only be interviewing certain people, etc, but this is a film people need to see, because it all points to the truth of the matter. For all that religion does for the world as good, the bad is far far worse. It is run by men, which sends it right down the crapper no matter what precipals it is based on. The bible isn't the word of god, it is the word of man. The majority of the worlds problems stem from relgion. People need to realize this, I'm not saying people shouldn't believe in something in a time of need, I'm saying people need to open thier eyes and look at the facts not the fairy tales. Bill was hilarious, and I recommend this movie to everyone and anyone. Hopefully it opens some eyes, and some laughs.
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Religulous

Cast & crew

Director: Larry Charles

Cast: Bill Maher full cast

Genre(s): Comedy, Documentaries

Rated: R

Duration: 101 mins

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