Religulous (2008)

Director:

Larry Charles

Writer:

Bill Maher (written by)

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Comedy

Tagline:

Do you smell something burning?

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Muslim | Jew | Christian | Religion | God

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Bill Maher	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steve Burg	...	Himself
Francis Collins	...	Himself
George Coyne	...	Himself
Jeremiah Cummings	...	Himself
Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda	...	Himself
Reginald Foster	...	Himself
Ted Haggard	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dean Hamer	...	Himself (as Dr. Dean Hamer)
Ken Ham	...	Himself
Julie Maher	...	Herself
Kathy Maher	...	Herself
Aki Nawaz	...	Himself (as Propa-Gandhi)
Andrew Newberg	...	Himself
Fred Phelps	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mark Pryor	...	Himself
Ray Suarez	...	Himself
Yisroel Dovid Weiss	...	Himself
John Westcott	...	Himself
Geert Wilders	...	Himself

Also Known As:

A Spiritual Journey (USA) (fake working title)
Untitled Larry Charles Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some language and sexual material.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew | Arabic | Persian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44539) | UK:15 | Australia:M | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | South Africa:18 | New Zealand:M | Ireland:15A | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Mexico:B15 | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Thousand Words

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)

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The truck stop chapel is not actually located in Raleigh, NC, as claimed in the film, but is near Charlotte, NC. Raleigh and Charlotte are further from each other than LA and San Diego. Charlotte is an extremely conservative town compared with Raleigh.

Quotes:

Bill Maher: [in a deleted scene on the DVD] Religions are maintained by people. People who can't get laid. Because sex is the first great earthly pleasure. But if you can't get that, power is a pretty good second one. And that's what religion gives to people. Power. Power is sex for people who can't get or don't want or aren't any good at sex itself.

Movie Connections:

Features King of Kings (1961)

Soundtrack:

Star Spangled Banner

A Call to Action

Not just a propaganda piece, and more accessible than most of Bill Maher's creative output, Religulous still preaches to the choir (please excuse this phrase). However, the film does not seek to convert; rather, Maher wants current agnostics to gather their courage and preach their doubts. Deeply atheist and deeply religious people who see the film will likely be offended or feel as though their time has been wasted.

While this film is not as funny as Borat, Religulous (which, at times is actually pretty scary) is a more powerful film because this film is true. For a project written by and starring Maher, the clips in the film are (for the most part) surprisingly fair. Maher does not try to make any of the people in the film look stupid (at least no more stupid than himself); in fact, he (usually) tries to help people consider the position not that their personal/religious beliefs are incorrect but that their personal beliefs may be incorrect. Most people in the film will not consider this possibility (these are the people Maher is warning us about), but several important and seemingly wise religious figures also featured in the film agree with Maher about the danger of certainty.

I recommend Frailty to anyone who would like to see a fictional, story-line illustration of the main theme of this documentary/propaganda film. I recommend Religulous to anyone who is comfortable enough with himself/herself to doubt their personal beliefs, to consider the possibility that (s)he might be wrong.