Religulous (2008)

Bill Maher's take on the current state of world religion.

Director:

Larry Charles

Stars:

Bill Maher, Tal Bachman, Jonathan Boulden

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bill Maher	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tal Bachman	...	Himself
Jonathan Boulden	...	Himself
Steve Burg	...	Himself
Francis Collins	...	Himself
George Coyne	...	Himself (as Father George Coyne PhD)
Benjamin Creme	...	Himself
Jeremiah Cummings	...	Himself
Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda	...	Himself
Fatima Elatik	...	Herself
Yahuda Etzion	...	Himself
Reginald Foster	...	Himself (as Father Reginald Foster)
Mohamed Junas Gaffar	...	Himself
Bill Gardiner	...	Himself
Ted Haggard	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

Bill Maher interviews some of religion's oddest adherents. Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. Maher goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. He talks to truckers at a Truckers' Chapel. (Sign outside: "Jesus love you.") He goes to a theme park called Holy Land in Florida. He speaks to a rabbi in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic.

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Plot Keywords:

religion | christian | muslim | jew | catholic | 

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Taglines:

Heaven help us.

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Genres:

Documentary | Comedy | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and sexual material

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic Persian Hebrew Spanish

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Spiritual Journey

Filming Locations:

's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,409,643 (USA) (3 October 2008)

Gross:

$12,995,673 (USA) (12 December 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Thousand Words

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Additional people interviewed on the "Deleted Scenes" section of the DVD release: . Howard Bloom (anti-Muslim Jew, author of "The Lucifer Principles") . M. Hasan, store owner; Kaya Bousquet, model; and Jason Alper, stylist; Zamzan Books and Burkah Store (discussing Muslim fashions) . Benjamin Creme (British author, artist and prophet) discussing Maitreya . David Icke (author, "The Biggest Secret," "Secrets of the Matrix") arguing that the world is being run by "interdimensional" reptile-like creatures including the Bushes and the British royal family . Rael and followers (discussing their "atheist religion" that extraterrestrials called "Elohim" created all life on earth) . Michael Bray (anti-abortion activist from Wilmington, Ohio defending violent attacks on abortion providers even if uninvolved people are also hurt or killed) . Anne, Heidi, Carla, Doris Deborah, Michelle and Miranda (polygamist wives of a fundamentalist Mormon living in Salt Lake City, Utah)

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Goofs

The Senator makes an argument based on violence being in Human DNA then later argues against Evolution in favor of the Garden of Eden Story.

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Quotes

Bill Maher: He spends the first four books of the Bible wiping people out.
Man at The Holy Land Experience: His thinking's higher than ours is, Bill!
Bill Maher: Maybe your thinking should be higher.
Man at The Holy Land Experience: That's a good point.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, there is one last clip of Bill Maher with his mother and sister. He tells them "I'll see you in heaven", and they laugh. His mother says "who knows," and there is a title card "In loving memory of Julie Maher, 1919-2007".

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Connections

References Marjoe (1972)

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Soundtracks

Yiddish Blues
Written by J. Frankel
Performed by The Klezmer Conservatory Band
Courtesy of Vanguard Records
A Welk Music Group Company

User Reviews

Demands A Viewing

Two things about this film took away a star. One was that Bill Maher spent so much time with the ones he tried to make look bad that he didn't meet with enough experts who could further the points he was making. The second problem is that the people he interviewed could have easily made fools of themselves without him cutting them off and lecturing them. That being said, let's get to the good points.

For one thing, he makes it so clear how illogical the mass amount of people can be. He exposes phony beliefs and shows how they can become very protective against his film crew. The film stock they put into use is done masterfully. Plenty of laugh out loud moments (particularly the image of Jesus as a teenager, you will see). My word must be taken as truth when I say that the final part of the film MUST be seen. This isn't just about cracking jokes on faith. This film is about the human race taking responsibility of itself and stopping the damage it has been doing for far too long.

I truly hope religious people are not quick to brush this film off. For once, listen to the side from someone who is sincerely concerned about all of our futures.