Maher is essentially and professionally a comic, and the measure of this movie is not just the thoughts it provokes but the laughs it generates.
Religulous (2008)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:20
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Religulous is funny and offensive in equal measure, and aims less to change hearts and minds than to inspire conversation.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some language and sexual material.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Oct 1, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $12,995,673
Synopsis: Bill Maher travels to Israel, England, the Netherlands, Vatican City, and across America, speaking to people about faith and religion in the very funny documentary RELIGULOUS. Maher, a stand-up... Bill Maher travels to Israel, England, the Netherlands, Vatican City, and across America, speaking to people about faith and religion in the very funny documentary RELIGULOUS. Maher, a stand-up comedian who has hosted the talk shows POLITICALLY INCORRECT on ABC and REAL TIME on HBO and has written such bestsellers as DOES ANYBODY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT? and WHEN YOU RIDE ALONE, YOU RIDE WITH BIN LADEN, reaches out to religious leaders as well as regular folk on the street, discussing the existence of God and the importance of organized religion. Maher makes it clear from the start that he is not a fan of religion and does not believe in God, and he has fun skewering people who do--including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Mormons, rabbis, priests, politicians, scientists, evangelical ministers, and even a preacher whose church is a converted truck. He also visits such places as the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, where he interviews the actor who plays Jesus in a live show there, and the Red Light District in Amsterdam, notorious for its legalized drugs and prostitution. As he has done on his television programs and in his books, Maher questions literal interpretations of the Bible, seeing it more as a collection of fairy tales. Director Larry Charles (BORAT, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM) intersperses clips from Hollywood films about religion to punctuate Maher's points, often to hilarious effect. The soundtrack is also used effectively, including such songs as the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus Is Just Alright," Ben Folds's "Jesusland," and Billy Bragg and Wilco's "Christ for President." Like such Michael Moore documentaries as FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, Maher's RELIGULOUS uses humor--and lots of cynicism and sarcasm--to examine controversial theories and topics that people feel very strongly about, no matter what side of the fence they are on. In addition to making audiences laugh, RELIGULOUS will make them think. [More]
Starring: Bill Maher, Kathy Maher, Julie Maher, Mark Pryor
Starring: Bill Maher, Kathy Maher, Julie Maher, Mark Pryor, Andrew Newberg, Ray Suarez, Francis Collins, Brian Weiss, Aki Nawaz
Director: Larry Charles
Director: Larry Charles
Producer: Bill Maher, Jonah Smith, Palmer West
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Reviews for Religulous
I think this is an important movie, challenging, many beliefs that many of us seem unwilling to talk about. Mainly, though, you’ll laugh…a lot.
About half of the movie works in its snide, hit-and-run way. The other half throws more and more darts at the same balloon, long after it pops.
Maher sets out not after answers but cheap laughs that preach, so to speak, to the converted.
Religulous doesn't really go anywhere. It's ultimately a celebration of the old-time religion we call entertainment.
Religulous is not for the devout. But those with a taste for irreverent humor and clear-eyed analysis will find it funny, enlightening and disturbing.
Bill Maher does something amazing in Religulous. He makes Michael Moore look incredibly likable in comparison.
[Maher's] scattershot and ad hominem attacks against many different forms of religious hypocrisy don't add up to a coherent critique, and he's not qualified to provide one.
A provocation, thinly disguised as a documentary, that succeeds in being almost as funny as it is offensive.
In the end, for all its genuflections towards free inquiry and rational debate, Maher is as close-minded as any of the preachers he despises.
Maher isn't unfair. Simply restating religious tenets to believers amounts to ridiculing them, but so be it.
What [Maher] does do finally in this funny, refreshing movie is assert how unrestrained religiosity could guarantee the 'end days' many of his subjects admit to looking forward to.
No two ways about it, Religulous is going to offend a lot of people who have never even see it. Chances are, it's going to offend a lot of people who do see it as well.
Funny as it is, Religulous is too much an exercise in preaching to the happily nonconverted. You others be damned. Sound familiar?
Many may laugh, and many will surely be offended, but nothing here bridges the gap between those two reactions.
Maher’s first film project, Religulous, is a major disappointment because here, unlike on Real Time, he aims for laughs instead of insight -- and aims low.
As an exchange of ideas, this is a hopeless project, since Maher's doubt is as immovable as his interviewees' certainty.
One of the rules of satire is that you can't mock things you don't understand, and Religulous starts developing fault lines when it becomes clear that Maher's view of religious faith is based on a sophomoric reading of the Scriptures.
We need skeptics. They infuriate, but they also illuminate, and anybody whose faith can't take the knocks that Maher dishes out probably has deeper spiritual issues to deal with.
Latest News for Religulous
February 16, 2009:
RT on DVD: High School Musical 3 or Midnight Meat Train?
It's a good week for mediocre films (Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine and Flash of Genius, which all walk a fine line between Fresh and Rotten) and an even better one if... More...
January 03, 2009:
James Agee Cinema Circle Honors Movies of Conscience and Consciousness: THE MODERN TIMES: The Progie Award for Best Progressive Film SATIRE, named after Charlie Chaplin's 1936 Modern Times and 1940 The Great Dictator: RELIGULOUS ![]()
More...
October 02, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Chihuahua to Overtake Multiplexes
Hollywood kicks off the fourth quarter with a stampede of new releases that will test the elasticity of the marketplace. Ambulances are already on standby to rush the high... More...
September 23, 2008:
Trailer Tuesday: Religulous ![]()
More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Religulous at Rotten Tomatoes
- Religulous at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



