Religulous: Atheists Will Love Bill Maher's New Flick

Posted by DJK, Brave New Films at 12:39 PM on October 11, 2008.

(Religulous – documentary – 101 min – directed by Larry Charles – starring Bill Maher)

Finally, a movie for my people! That's right, I'm an atheist. In fact, I'm so much of an atheist that I don't even like the term. I think the default setting for humans is to not be religious — I might as well call myself a non-snake handler, non-scientologist, or a non-branch Davidian.

But enough about me. Religulous, directed by Borat director Larry Charles, follows Bill Maher as he travels the world questioning religious "experts" and believers about the inherent contradictions and accepted silliness that makes up the bulk of the world's "organized" religions. Maher is not an atheist — he just accepts that he does not know the answers to life's big spiritual questions, and that anyone who claims to know with absolute certainty what God or Allah wants or what happens when we die must be doubted to the utmost. Pretty hard to argue with that.

Maher has been talking about religion for his entire comedic career. At times, the movie feels a bit like watching his stand up being performed to an audience of one, whether it be a Jew for Jesus, a Muslim cleric, or an evangelical senator. Which is not a bad thing — there are big laughs in Religulous as Maher boldly challenges the many illogical, violent, farcical beliefs that form the foundation of most religions. Unlike Borat, Religulous uses a lot of stock footage and clips to punctuate its jokes, while also adding a welcome dose of infotainment. For example, who knew that the story of Jesus — with its virgin birth, 12 disciples and resurrection — is a variation of a tale that had been circulating the Middle East and the Mediterranean for decades?

While Maher does more than his fair share of attacking and mocking, the believers in the film are the most effective in making a mockery of themselves. When you hear people speaking in tongues, declaring that humans coexisted peacefully with dinosaurs, or explaining how prayer can cure homosexuality, it's hard not to conclude that religion is simply an accepted form of mass insanity. And in several refreshing turns, religious officials admit that they are teaching illogical fantasy, that their institutions are rife with hypocrisy, and make fun of their religion's more fundamentalist sects.

Some may find Maher's manner to be condescending or overly aggressive, and sometimes it is. Maher has obviously spent a lot of time studying religion to find its weak points and inconsistencies, and he clearly enjoys confronting people about them. But while Maher can be quite pointed, he often just asks people questions so viewers can hear what these true believers have to say. And it's not that he's springing "gotcha" questions — is it wrong to ask a devout Christian if they really believe in talking snakes or how Jesus could be three people at once?

Religulous focuses mainly on Christianity, Islam, and occasionally on Judaism. Eastern religions like Buddhism and Taoism are excluded, which makes sense to me since I see those as being philosophies more than they are religions. And, unfortunately, the movie ends on a preachy, conspicuously unfunny note as Maher unloads his feelings on why religion is a danger to civilization and, combined with increasingly powerful weaponry, could potentially destroy the earth. I actually agree with much of this sentiment, but the tone and placement of this polemic ends a good movie on a sour note.

Still, Religulous is an entertaining, thought-provoking movie that even religious people will enjoy, especially if they’re able to get a laugh at their own expense. If they aren’t, well, that sort of proves the whole point Religulous and Bill Maher are trying to make.

Tagged as: religion, bill maher, religulous, brave new review, larry charles

Jonathan Kim blogs under the name DJK. He is a Co-Producer at Brave New Films. He co-produces the Fox Attacks series and blogs for the bravenewfilms.org and foxattacks.com websites.