#1 Cheap Religulous Reviews
Bill Maher roams the world making fun of the delusions and lengths people go to protect their ingrained irrational. On the way we meet a whacky mix of characters in which Bill frequently gets a laugh out of most by there own doing.
The film consists of a mix of interviews with people from a variety of backgrounds interspersed with little snippets of religious television and movies to comical effect. At times I fear for Bill as he asks the tough questions but most of the time the subjects don't realise their having the piss taken out of them. The looks on there faces and pauses when they realise what they've just said are priceless.
My favourite characters include:
Jeremiah Cummings- Bill stirs him up about his wealth which he is rather proud of despite Jesus's views, conveniently believes it is easy for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle.
The former missionary who tells of all Gods great miracles except can't remember any, except that it rained once. Doesn't believe in Santa Clause at least.
The "ex-gay" pastor trying to convert others. Quote "Gays aren't happy" haha, even looks gay to Bills amusement.
Mark Pryor Arkansas senator - proving you don't need a high IQ to get into senate, even says so - priceless.
The constantly interrupting Rabbi - Holocaust denier and David Copperfield fan
The jewish inventor devoted to creating devices to be used on the sabbath, "Gods loopholes" and his state of the art wheelchair
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda - reincarnation or is that relative (same thing?)of Jesus, or maybe Carmen Miranda - told in private by God of course.
The whole of the Dutch Muslim gay community - "hope you like each other"
Muslim cleric with his Led Zeppelin ringtone going off at inconvenient time.
and of course Jesus himself - with his ice/water/steam analogy
Though ultimately amusing it is distressing to see the hatred and denial of facts hidden behind the veil of religious beliefs that we are somehow led to respect. Not any more.
I also found Religulous to provide some valuable history lessons for example the obvious similarities to Horus, Mithras and other gods written in texts thousands of years before Jesus. This and a broad array of useful quips, comebacks to be used in reply to any rubbish that is thrown your way - Atheists have a right to speak up too.
There is a moral to the story and Bill outlines how disturbing andhow open these people are to the end of the world and the risks of self-fulfilling prophecies.
To most of the reviewers who criticise Maher for attacking the "straw men". To them I say the fact is these people are well and truly out there, visible to the public and often profiting rather well ultimately at their expense. To the more moderate believers it could be argued that if anythings these people are true to their religion there is ample room for literal and ultimatley evil interpretations.
For those who are arrogant enough to think they know how we were created,why we're all here and what happens after we die - well you don't, I don't and neither does Bill.
Religulous Overview
COMEDIAN & TV HOST BILL MAHER TAKES A PILGRIMAGE ACROSS THE GLOBE ON A MIND-OPENING JOURNEY INTO THE ULTIMATE TABOO: QUESTIONING RELIGION.
Astonishingly Mediocre - Liam le Silencieux - Mesa, AZ
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.
