Religulous - Bill Maher vs. God

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Comedian turned pundit Bill Maher doesn’t like religion.  If you’ve ever seen more than five minutes of his HBO show, then you’d be hard pressed to not know that.  So his first foray into the world of documentaries should come as no shock.  Religulous is Maher’s take on organized religion. 

Religulous follows Maher as he treks across the planet in effort to pick apart the inconsistencies of various religions.  The first hour deals exclusively with Christianity which is the strongest part of the film.  Perhaps it’s because he’s spent the last fifteen years zeroing in on Christianity which makes the jokes sharper.  This film owes a huge debt to Michael Moore.  He essentially created the humorous but opinionated documentary genre and this film is firmly entrenched in that world.

It’s a difficult film to review because it doesn’t have a true narrative.  It’s basically a collection of globe-trotting scenes.  The arguments (of both sides) use the same talking points that they always do.  Of course, Maher came prepared so he is much less likely to make a rhetorical misstep than your average rank-and-file believer.  And it’s these “rhetorical missteps” that Maher hones in on, sometimes to great comedic effect.  But it all leaves something of a bad aftertaste.

The film is from the director of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and it shows in both a good and bad way.  The film is punctuated with quick cuts to pop-culture moments that quickly illustrate specific points or punctuate certain moments.  But it also uses some of the same ambush techniques of Borat.  And that’s where the “aftertaste” comes in.  What was funny Borat can seem much crueler here.  Disrupting a boring dinner party is funny.  Mocking someone’s religious beliefs “ambush style” can seem more than a little unkind.  Most of the participants are woefully unprepared to have a theological debate.  Some of them are legitimate targets.  Taking on a “reformed homosexual” who now tries to reform others or a senator opposed to gay marriage seems like fair game.  They tackle these issues day in/day out so they should be prepared for a little verbal jousting and if they aren’t, that’s their fault.  But confronting unsuspecting tourists at The Holy Land Experience, a Christian theme park, seems mean-spirited. 

That’s not to say there aren’t funny parts like, for instance, when a senator blurts out that there is no I.Q. test required to have his job.  And Maher, for all of his self-righteousness, can be funny.  And even though it’s the first half that can be the most mean, it’s also the funniest.

When Maher moves on to other religions, the movie takes a nosedive.  He spends all of ninety seconds on Scientology; presumably because they’re much more litigious when lampooned.  From there he moves onto Judaism.  But he doesn’t seem to take on real Judaism.  Instead he finds a non-Zionist rabbi (who knew there was such a thing) that attended a Holocaust Denial seminar in Iran.  Hardly representative of the faith at large.

Finally he tackles Islam.  Here virtually all humor is drained from the film largely because he doesn’t focus on theological inconsistencies of Islam like he does with Christianity.  Instead, he shines a spotlight on their intolerance vis-à-vis the riots over a cartoon depicting Mohammed and the assassination of filmmaker Theo Van Gough for making an allegedly anti-Islamic film.  And while that’s a truly important topic, the stakes are so much higher that it’s difficult to wring many laughs out of it. 

Maher seems to be genuinely interested in demonstrating that having no religion is a viable option in today’s world.  However, his smugness is his greatest enemy.  He sincerely wants to create a dialogue in which people discuss doubt.  Unfortunately he can’t hide his condescension.  And it’s difficult to get people to listen when you’re talking down to them.  He succeeds in some stretches but fails in many others.  Your opinion of the film will depend largely on your opinion of religion.  If you’re not religious, then you’ll probably find the film funny.  Ultimately this film is for the true non-believer.  Atheists, agnostics or people that can laugh at the incongruities that come with attempting to explain the unexplainable will find humor in this film.  The rest will likely want to punch Bill Maher in the face. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Roger & Me and 1 being Bowling For Columbine, Religulous gets a 6.

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