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Religulous
Lionsgate


7.5

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 85 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for some language and sexual material

Starring Bill Maher, Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, Steve Berg, and Andrew Newberg

Religulous follows political humorist and author Bill Maher as he travels around the globe interviewing people about God and religion. Known for his astute analytical skills, irreverent wit and commitment to never pulling a punch, Maher brings his characteristic honesty to an unusual spiritual journey. (Lionsgate)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Larry Charles
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: October 3, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA
LANGUAGE(S):	English \| Hebrew \| Arabic \| Persian \| Spanish

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

He's a bombs-away provocateur, and in Religulous, Maher's blasphemous detonation of all things holy and scriptural, he doesn't really pretend to play fair. He's like Lenny Bruce with an inquiring mind and a video camera.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

You may very well hate it, but at least you've been informed. Perhaps you could enjoy the material about other religions, and tune out when yours is being discussed. That's only human nature.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The results are often as surprising as they are funny.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

What he 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.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Though fashioned as popular entertainment with laughs, light moments, and mostly humorous segments, Religulous is as serious as a disapproving Jehovah about its mission to upend our rote allegiance to blind religious faith.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Those with a taste for irreverent humor and clear-eyed analysis will find it funny, enlightening and disturbing.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Maher's sense of humor deserts him in the end, though, when in an apocalyptic montage of fire and hate (bin Laden, Pat Robertson), he suggests all religions are equally bent on destruction of the Earth. It's fatuous to suggest that the Iraq war was launched because of religion or that belief in the Book of Revelation is the same as organizing terrorist attacks.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Maher can be a smartass, but his attempts to apply reason to religion are more a challenge than a threat.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Stylistically, Religulous is very much like a Michael Moore documentary, in that most of the scenes have a comic structure, end with a punch line and are designed to make Maher-the-interviewer look sane and rational while his subject comes off as a complete fool.

Variety Robert Koehler

To the film's credit, Maher never engages in Michael Moore-style gotcha tactics, but rather asks questions that raise more questions, in the form of a Socratic dialogue. To believers expecting a blind hatchet job, this will prove both thought-provoking and a bit disarming; skeptics may be surprised (as Maher is) by the occasionally smart replies to his queries.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

As he delivered his climactic sermon in the Israeli desert, I murmured, "Amen, brother." Religulous is a religious experience.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Was Maher afraid he might muddy his clownish jape if he actually brought into the mix a learned theologian?

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Has a shocking anger and force.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's a fairly entertaining bash, with a travelogue vibe established by director Larry Charles ("Borat"). It’s also smug as all hell.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

While even believers can support Maher's skepticism, when he denounces the faithful in sweeping absolutes at film's end, he sounds as absolutely certain as those he has mocked for the previous 100 minutes.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Maher makes Michael Moore look incredibly likable in comparison.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A major disappointment because here, unlike on "Real Time," Maher aims for laughs instead of insight--and aims low.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

For the most part Mr. Maher is an equal-opportunity denigrator, but it's worth noting that humor fails him when the subject is Muslim fundamentalism. It's hard to make light of what frightens us.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

By focusing so narrowly on religious fundamentalists and bigots while ignoring any spiritual dimension to religion, the film is not only being disingenuous but limits its audience to non-believers.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The problem with the movie, whose title compresses "religious" and "ridiculous" into a single word, isn't that it milks more than one sacred cow but that it does so with minimal subtlety and intelligence.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Bill Maher's one-man stand-up attack on religious fundamentalism is a dog that has more bark than bite--a skeptical, secular-humanist hounding of the hypocrites, amusingly annotated with sarcastic subtitles and clips from cheesy biblical spectacles.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Much of Mr. Maher's film is extremely funny in a similarly irreverent, offhanded way. Some true believers -- at least those who have a sense of humor about their faith -- may even be amused. But most will not.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The bulk of Religulous is a passionate but misguided attempt by Maher to stimulate the 16 percent of the American population who deem themselves non-religious into standing up and being counted.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

More rant than rollick, it's just ain't funny enough.

Premiere Eric Kohn

The lack of insightful commentary keeps the spotlight focused on Maher. That's not restraint; it's a missed opportunity.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The film has a habit of cutting away from interviews for Maher's commentary during the drive to the next location. You can see him trying to work the car for a laugh.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Maher's too smart to make a movie this dumb.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Though he claims to be a seeker, someone who "has to find out" why believers believe, Maher sets out not after answers but cheap laughs that preach, so to speak, to the converted.

Washington Post Neely Tucker

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 and that he doesn't understand that some thoughtful people actually do believe in some sort of spiritual life.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

His 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.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 85 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Michael T. gave it a9:
The people that he interviewed were great it was very interesting to see how people from different religions reacted to him.

Terri F. gave it a10:
Excellent! Wish this would play in mainstream theatres. This movie needs to be seen by everyone!

Colin B. gave it a5:
I entirely agree with Arnold P. This film was entertaining enough, but it was too ludicrous and contrived to be taken seriously. Bill Maher is a comedian, not a philosopher. For a more intellectual and educational slam on religion, watch Richard Dawkins' "Root of All Evil. "

Ron gave it a9:
The kind of questions that I have been asking for years and years. I was mesmerized by the film, both in the construct of the questions about religious superstitions and utterly primitive beliefs and practices and scared by the fundamentalist ideology that so many practitinoeers adhere to and spend their lives attempting to shove down the rest of our throats through guilt and dogma, not to mention justification of warfare and death! Maher has hit this one out of the park and causes rational people to think at least for a moment of the sheer lunacy of religious belief systems that so rely on artificial and contrived premises along with prejudices, bigotry, hatred and delusion. I love this film and can watch over and over and each time maybe with someone who so believes in the fairy tales that in the end I can ask them- So, really. I mean really- makes alot of sense, huh?

Commando Dude gave it a9:
I've never laughed so hard in my life in a comedy. The reason this film probably got such low ratings was because critics tucked tail and ran like the religious Meher interviews as they try and find ways to get around the obvious contradictions he presents in their own faiths! Religion absolutely needs to be questioned, and people need to point out other's silly beliefs. The film ended with a very chilling look into a very possible reality if religious fundamentalists ever are able to get their hands on the weapons that will make their fabled armageddon's a reality.

Craig S. gave it a10:
This is one of the most hysterical - and scathing - exposes on religion anywhere. If you are very religious, particularly Christian, you will probably walk out within the first five minutes. But for those who can not only tolerate - but relish - a good blasphemous romp, it's a movie you will want to see again and again! I took my kids and they insisted we see it a second time. And we're ready to go back again! It is just SO SO funny and full of comic surprises - not to mention a searing funeral for the mythical tradition of Christianity. One of my all-time favorite movies. I can't wait till it comes out on DVD. Unfortunately, it probably will not be out in time to make an ironic Christmas gift. Too bad!

Sentoro S. gave it a10:
I thought that the movie was a must-see for all people, religious or not. It is a biting commentary that needs to be seen to acknowledge the reality of the situation in the world, and it was presented beautifully.

Religulous Lionsgate

Religulous
Lionsgate