Movie Review: "Religulous"

It’s dangerous enough to make a film about religion, let alone a comedy. From “Life of Brian” to “Dogma,” films dealing with religion in jest have faced boycotts, scrutiny and harsh criticism from the devout.

So I’m shocked that more noise has not been made about “Religulous,” the new comedy-documentary from comedian Bill Maher and director Larry Charles (“Borat”). Here is a film that posits that religion is not just silly, but dangerous and should be stricken from the face of the Earth. Yet there seems to be more concern over David Zucker’s spoof “An American Carol” and Oliver Stone’s upcoming George W. Bush satire than of this film, which starts off funny, and then turns into an angry screed of doubt and cynicism.

Of course, it could just be that people see Maher involved in a movie about religion and know exactly what to expect. For more than 30 years, the comedian and former host of “Politically Incorrect” has praised drugs, bashed marriage and said whatever is on his mind, no matter how shocking or callous. But he’s always saved the majority of his venom for religion, especially Christianity.

Maher is not an atheist, mind you. He’s an out-and-proud agnostic who says he doesn’t know if there is anyone out there watching us and that it’s arrogant to think you know something for certain. His goal with the film, he says, is to find out why religion is such an attractive choice for people around the world and he sets out interviewing several representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Representatives may actually be too strong of a word. Maher, an intelligent and very witty comedian, knows what leads to comic gold. So he spends most of the film talking with people on the fringes of the religion - a Muslim imam at the controversial Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, an Israeli physician with an elaborate system of machines set up so he can avoid any work on the Sabbath and the actor who plays Jesus at The Holy Land Experience amusement park in Orlando.

As Charles proved with the much-better “Borat,” catching people dumbfounded, awkward and off-guard can be hilarious, and there’s no shortage of idiocy on parade in “Religulous.” Peppering in clips from religious television programs, evangelistic outreach ministries and even a few adult films, Maher and Charles provide a smart-aleck counterpoint to even the most earnest followers. They also make sure to interview the most ludicrous televangelists, a few gay Muslims and a Mexican man who claims to be the second coming of Christ; his name is even, conveniently, Jesus.

The film is very funny, I will admit. And I would expect no less coming from such an intelligent comedian as Maher and a director like Larry Charles, who cut his teeth on “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Maher is a smart and likable interviewer who laughs and jokes with his subjects before going in for a well-timed kill, whether its getting a senator to admit “you don’t need an IQ test to serve in the senate” or trapping a health-and-prosperity evangelist by stating that Jesus actually saved some of his harshest words for the rich and the powerful. Maher leads the subjects into the joke and Charles, using smart editing and invasive camera work, lends a visual punch line. As a comedy that examines how human beings often make a mess of religion and faith, “Religulous” succeeds from time to time.

The problem is that “Religulous” is not just a comedy. It’s a documentary and, on that level, it is extremely problematic.

I don’t believe that Maher and Charles ever set out to make a serious examination of faith, yet that’s what he claims to be setting out to do at the beginning. Yet by interviewing people on the fringe, Maher loses any sight of real debate and discussion. If he was convinced that faith is truly a fraud, then it may have behooved him to talk with theologians, Bible scholars, archeologists and scientists, rather than actors and televangelists. He does sit with a Vatican priest who is a believer in evolution and a scientist who is one of the few deists in the Human Genome project. But those interviews are not necessarily funny and he cuts to his next wacky subject after a few brief sentences, just when it appears the debate could get interesting. It’s the same misguided editing used by Ben Stein when he went after anti-theist Richard Dawkins in this year’s woeful “Expelled.”

Maher also stoops to Michael Moore shock “facts” to get his point across. Rather than try and explain his lack of faith rationally, he pulls out some statements that sound good but are ultimately pointless. His use of quotes by the Founding Fathers to show their distaste of religion is misleading, as a quote by John Adams is taken extremely out of context and his examination of Thomas Jefferson, who compiled a New Testament with all references to Christ’s miracles and divinity expunged, fails to note that Jefferson did admire Christ as a moral teacher. The parallels he cites between the Gospel story and the Egyptian legend of Horus are extremely problematical, as most have been proven to be the basis of historical urban legends. By the time he delivers an angry polemic at Megiddo, the site where Christians believe the world will end, Maher has not earned his anger or proven that there is any credence to his belief that religion will destroy the world.

There’s an interesting moment halfway through the film in which Maher challenges someone on the doctrine of the Trinity. The subject actually gives a smart reply, using the three states of water as an example. Maher is genuinely stopped in his tracks for a second and confesses later that he didn’t know what to say. “But two minutes later, you realize it’s all BS,” he says.

That’s funny. I felt that way quite a bit during “Religulous.” Grade: C-

Chris Williams is a Source staff writer and member of the Detroit Film Critics Society. He can be reached at Chris.Williams@advisorsource.com

This review was originally published in the 10/12/08 edition of the Advisor and Source Newspapers.