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Religulous

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Religulous (2008)

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Reviews Counted:141

Fresh:98

Rotten:43

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: Religulous is funny and offensive in equal measure, and aims less to change hearts and minds than to inspire conversation.

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $12,995,673

Synopsis: Bill Maher travels to Israel, England, the Netherlands, Vatican City, and across America, speaking to people about faith and religion in the very funny documentary RELIGULOUS. Maher, a stand-up... Bill Maher travels to Israel, England, the Netherlands, Vatican City, and across America, speaking to people about faith and religion in the very funny documentary RELIGULOUS. Maher, a stand-up comedian who has hosted the talk shows POLITICALLY INCORRECT on ABC and REAL TIME on HBO and has written such bestsellers as DOES ANYBODY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT? and WHEN YOU RIDE ALONE, YOU RIDE WITH BIN LADEN, reaches out to religious leaders as well as regular folk on the street, discussing the existence of God and the importance of organized religion. Maher makes it clear from the start that he is not a fan of religion and does not believe in God, and he has fun skewering people who do--including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Mormons, rabbis, priests, politicians, scientists, evangelical ministers, and even a preacher whose church is a converted truck. He also visits such places as the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, where he interviews the actor who plays Jesus in a live show there, and the Red Light District in Amsterdam, notorious for its legalized drugs and prostitution. As he has done on his television programs and in his books, Maher questions literal interpretations of the Bible, seeing it more as a collection of fairy tales. Director Larry Charles (BORAT, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM) intersperses clips from Hollywood films about religion to punctuate Maher's points, often to hilarious effect. The soundtrack is also used effectively, including such songs as the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus Is Just Alright," Ben Folds's "Jesusland," and Billy Bragg and Wilco's "Christ for President." Like such Michael Moore documentaries as FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, Maher's RELIGULOUS uses humor--and lots of cynicism and sarcasm--to examine controversial theories and topics that people feel very strongly about, no matter what side of the fence they are on. In addition to making audiences laugh, RELIGULOUS will make them think. [More]

Starring: Bill Maher, Kathy Maher, Julie Maher, Mark Pryor

Starring: Bill Maher, Kathy Maher, Julie Maher, Mark Pryor, Andrew Newberg, Ray Suarez, Francis Collins, Brian Weiss, Aki Nawaz

Director: Larry Charles

Director: Larry Charles
Producer: Bill Maher, Jonah Smith, Palmer West
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Religulous

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81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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It's not the message in Religulous that's a turn-off, but the way in which it's delivered.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment 2 Comments
10/03/08
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Thought is absent in Religulous, as is imagination. The movie is Maher's monument to Maher, as ugly and hateful as anything he decries in the film.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment 10 Comments
10/03/08
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

In this docu-comedy Maher and Borat director Larry Charles team up for a guerrilla raid on religion that employs many of the same bait-and-switch tactics from that Sacha Baron Cohen hit.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
10/03/08
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

[Maher's] beef against Judeo-Christian tradition is studiously researched, and seems to point to where Maher's animus really lies -- he does live in a country where no non-Christian, is likely to be elected President in his lifetime.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/03/08
Jim Slotek
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies

No two ways about it, Religulous is going to offend a lot of people who have never even see it. Chances are, it's going to offend a lot of people who do see it as well.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
10/03/08
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

Funny as it is, Religulous is too much an exercise in preaching to the happily nonconverted. You others be damned. Sound familiar?

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
10/03/08
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

Many may laugh, and many will surely be offended, but nothing here bridges the gap between those two reactions.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
10/03/08
Tom Maurstad
Tom Maurstad
Dallas Morning News

Maher’s first film project, Religulous, is a major disappointment because here, unlike on Real Time, he aims for laughs instead of insight -- and aims low.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 1 Comment
10/03/08
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

As an exchange of ideas, this is a hopeless project, since Maher's doubt is as immovable as his interviewees' certainty.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
10/03/08
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

Comedian Bill Maher brings his disarmingly direct humor to the topic of religion in Religulous. The results are often as surprising as they are funny.

Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment Comment
10/03/08
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Baltimore Sun

Though fashioned as popular entertainment with laughs, light moments, and mostly humorous segments, Religulous is as serious as a disapproving Jehovah about its mission to upend our rote allegiance to blind religious faith.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
10/03/08
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

One of the rules of satire is that you can't mock things you don't understand, and Religulous starts developing fault lines when it becomes clear that Maher's view of religious faith is based on a sophomoric reading of the Scriptures.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment 5 Comments
10/03/08
Neely Tucker
Neely Tucker
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

We need skeptics. They infuriate, but they also illuminate, and anybody whose faith can't take the knocks that Maher dishes out probably has deeper spiritual issues to deal with.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment 1 Comment
10/03/08
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star

Religulous reaffirms Maher's wit, but it also sheds light on his penchant for moral equivalence.

Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
10/03/08
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
Washington Times

Maher's wandering eye keeps Religulous - a very good movie - from being the great movie it could have been.

Full Review Source: Movie Retriever | comment Comment
10/03/08
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

Religulous will offend you, make you laugh extremely hard and then scare the living hell out of you. No pun intended.

Full Review Source: WJFK-FM (CBS Radio) | comment Comment
10/03/08
Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy
WJFK-FM (CBS Radio)

For most of the film, Maher uses the devout as straight men to set up his jokes. Though initially sidesplitting, over the course of Religulous, Maher has diminishing comic returns.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
10/03/08
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

Maher understands this fine line, but in his comedic zeal, he sometimes forgets and steps wrong.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
10/03/08
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

[Maher] converts 'honest doubt' into a rant against the ranters. Listening to it is like switching from Fox News to MSNBC, a different perspective but the same damn noise. My God, when will the racket end?

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
10/03/08
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

If you give [Maher] a chance, you'll find an intelligent, witty and well-researched cynic eager to give voice to an underserved minority.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
10/03/08
Geoff Berkshire
Geoff Berkshire
Metromix.com
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Latest News for Religulous

February 16, 2009: RT on DVD: High School Musical 3 or Midnight Meat Train?
It's a good week for mediocre films (Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine and Flash of Genius, which all walk a fine line between Fresh and Rotten) and an even better one if... More...

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October 02, 2008: Box Office Guru Preview: Chihuahua to Overtake Multiplexes
Hollywood kicks off the fourth quarter with a stampede of new releases that will test the elasticity of the marketplace. Ambulances are already on standby to rush the high... More...

September 23, 2008: Trailer Tuesday: Religulous Opens in new window
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