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

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Additional people interviewed on the "Deleted Scenes" section of the DVD release include: Howard Bloom, an anti-Muslim Jew and author of "The Lucifer Principles," M. Hasan, a store owner, Kaya Bousquet, a model, Jason Alper, a stylist; Zamzan Books and Burkah Store (discussing Muslim fashions), Benjamin Creme, a British author, artist and prophet (discussing Maitreya), David Icke, author, of "The Biggest Secret," and "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

Bill Maher claims a nuclear conflict would be driven by religion. During the Cold War, two of the major nuclear powers, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China were both state atheist, and at various periods actively persecuted religious people through imprisonment and even execution. Of the other nuclear powers, France has a secular constitution and the USA has official separation of church and state. The UK was the only early nuclear power to have an established church. Few of the people who were instrumental in creating the USA's nuclear arsenal were actively religious.

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Quotes

Vatican Astronomer: It is impossible for there to be any Science in the Scriptures. The two periods of History are too far apart.

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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

Referenced in The Jay Leno Show: Episode #1.55 (2009)

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Soundtracks

The Wings (From Brokeback Mountain)
Written by Gustavo Santaolalla
Performed by Gustavo Santaolalla

User Reviews

Contemplative Religiosity For The Masses

Saw the world premier of this at the Traverse City Film Festival. I am a big Bill Maher fan and this was definitely the movie/documentary I was most looking forward to at the festival.

I was not disappointed, though I think it could have been developed a bit more. It seemed to play to the lowest common denominator in that a lot of issues were touched on, sometimes in rapid fashion, but none was examined closely for any length of time. Any astute viewer of Real Time already knows what Maher thinks about religion and many of his arguments with regard to the same. I was hoping for a more in depth analysis of some of the primary aspects of how religion can negatively affect our world in ways that people might not intend. The documentary did that only on the surface. I suppose that shouldn't be surprising as the need to draw people into contemplative thought in this area is probably more of a priority than retaining those that already are there (not to mention selling more tickets).

Subsequent to the showing, director Larry Charles had a discussion on stage with Michael Moore, with questions from the audience. Larry pointed out that he had many many more hours of footage that didn't make it into the final cut, and that he thought maybe a series could be released on cable of this material. I would very much like to see that happen as I think it would quell the thirst I had for more substance with less of the fluff.

However, kudos for Maher and Charles for doing this. If it is successful in getting people to think about religion in real world terms, then it has accomplished its goal.

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