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
Steven 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:

islamophobia | anti semitism | propaganda | nihilism | religion | 

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Taglines:

Do you smell something burning?

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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 Hebrew Arabic Persian 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 USA:

$3,409,643, 5 October 2008

Gross USA:

$13,011,160

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$13,639,115

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

All of the "s"s on the DVD's closed captioning are dollar signs ($).

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Goofs

All the comparisons between Jesus and Horus mentioned in the film are not taken seriously by any credible biblical or ancient Egypt scholar.

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Quotes

Bill Maher: God knows what we could have accomplished by now...
Grand Central PA: Your attention please! Your attention please!
Andrew Newberg: Ha! We weren't expecting that! The Voice of God!

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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

Features The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

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Soundtracks

I Think We're Alone Now
Written by Ritchie Cordell
Published by EMI Longitude Music (BMI)
Performed by Tiffany
Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Maher's Catechism; Questions, No Answers

With 16 percent of the U.S. population, the un-/non-/anti-religious represent a larger segment than blacks (13%), gays (3%), or NRA members (2%). Never mind the exact figures (which vary from source to source), focus on the question what kind of lobby do the non-religious have, with impact approaching those other groups? None, alas. Why is that?

It could be this: The militantly religious must be *right*, the secular - by definition - will not fight to the death for his truth (or god, not in evidence). My money is on the righteous, the fervent, the militant, the possessed. One day, they may even have an influence over the U.S. government! Meanwhile, in our corner, there is Bill Maher.

His "Religulous," directed by Larry Charles, is an entertaining, funny, angry, thought-provoking journey from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Via Dolorosa, the Qumran Caves, to Stonehenge, Habibi Ana (and a Moslem Gay bar), the Vatican, the Holy Land Experience Park in Florida, the U.S. Capitol, Mormon Tabernacle, and many others.

Everywhere, Maher is asking a few simple questions: What do you believe, why, and how can you possibly...? Half Catholic, half Jewish, and fully agnostic, Maher is incredulous, in every sense of the word, but curiously warm and gentle asking questions about the "the final battle between intelligence and stupidity that will decide the future of humanity."

In Larry Charles' words, the situation confronted is like this: "An old God, a very buff old God that lives in space decides to create the first man from earth dust, then makes a woman from that man's rib. They get to live forever if they don't eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, but the woman is tricked into eating a piece by a talking snake and all future humanity is cursed." And that, of course, is just the basic tenet of one religion. Discuss.

Maher goes on in his polite crusade to dissect some of the similar Star Wars/Disney scenarios in Scientology, Mormonism, among Orthodox Jews and televangelists. All interviews are interesting, but some are amazing and memorable. Father Reginald Foster - a senior Vatican scholar, principal Latinist for the Pope - will stun you as he agrees with Maher on some points. There is unexpected goodwill and kindness from a group of evangelists "attacked" by Maher; they pray for him, and really mean it.

You may have chills running down your back as you listen to Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas), sitting in his Capitol office, speaking about his belief in Creationism and the literal interpretation of the Bible. You don't need to be a Christian to be offended (and amused) by the commercial Jesus impersonators Maher interviews, and you may feel a bit sorry for the Pentecostals speaking in tongues. (Gov. Palin and John Ashcroft, neither featured in "Religulous," are members of that church.)

After comedy, irony, and sarcasm, Maher turns serious at the end of the film, and asks with deep concern if the future of the world can be entrusted to the many varieties of believers in the unreal, the illogical, the incongruous, the phantasmagorical. Looks like we are well on our way to that eventuality.