Bill Maher should stick to standup. The monologues that frame
Religulous, his new “documentary” about how religion is
fucking stupid, are brutal and genuinely funny: a steady stream of
stand-alone sound bites just waiting for the next volume of The
Quotable Atheist. “Faith means making a virtue out of not
thinking.” “We learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past
the neurological disorder of wishing for it.”
The rest of the film, however, is an unmitigated shame. Maher trots
the globe—Israel, Utah, the Vatican—and talks to people
about their craaazy beliefs. And by “people” I mean “fish in barrels.”
And by “talks” I mean “shoots the living shit out of.” Maher
doesn’t engage in ideological discussions with the oily televangelist
or the ex–Jew for Jesus or the anti-Zionist rabbi—he
provokes them, snarks at them, and picks fights. They, understandably,
want to punch him right in his heathen hairpiece.
Sometimes Maher’s leviathan testicles grow so large as to block out
the sun—for instance, when he announces to a room of angry
evangelical truckers, “I think not having faith is a luxury for
people who are fortunate enough to have a fortunate life.” The section
on Islam is unabashedly, gleefully offensive—all other religions
are simply silly, but Muslims are silly and violent and
dangerous! Ugh, fuck off.
Religulous does have a few moments worth your time, like the
interviews with two feisty, funny old Vatican priests (out of everyone,
the Catholics come off the sanest)—actual theologians
adept at dealing with skeptics. And as a lifelong member of the atheist
choir, I get some involuntary satisfaction from being preached to in
such a vindictive way. I resent religion’s stranglehold on my
government. I’m enraged, actually. But in terms of actual documentary
filmmaking, Religulous is insulting—no subject is plumbed
beyond a superficial level and cheap shots take the place of
evidence.
Speaking of preaching and choirs, Michael Moore has released his
newest movie, Slacker Uprising, for free on the internet
(www.slackeruprising.com).
Slacker Uprising is “the story of one filmmaker’s failed attempt
to turn things around,” about his 2004 tour of battleground states.
Moore lambastes the media (“Without an informed public, democracy
ceases to exist!!!”) and does his own sparring with religious nutjobs
(“They’ve got God on their side, and we’ve just got Ben Affleck”); the
camera lingers on hopeful faces while Joan Baez sings the Finnish
national anthem; the mother of a dead National Guardsman weeps.
The trip back in time is disorienting (Dixie Chicks references!)
and, at this point, ardent anti-Bush rhetoric feels quaint. I
had almost forgotten about that li’l guy! There’s nothing new here, but
it’s stirring in a naive, pre-November-2004 kind of way. And if some
earnest words from Michael Stipe can get even one dumbass to go vote
for Barack Obama in this election, I will personally bake
Michael Moore 100 cheesecakes. 
A little harsh? I saw this last week. I didn’t go to engage in nuanced political discussion; I went to laugh at religious people.
Mission Accomplished.
I’d love to see Lindy West’s review of Borat (same director; roughly same goal): “This was stupid; his discussion of racism and social stratification in the United States was so shallow; I felt like he could’ve done so much more to engage people in meaningful discussion”.
@Andy: perhaps – but it could be argued that the intent of “Borat” was to inform by mocking, while “Religulous” attempted to mock by informing. As a result, the film only works for those who already agree with the premise (“Religion is Dumb”).
Mahler would have had greater success if he had tried harder to play the straight man (without the asides to the audience), and simply let his subjects reveal themselves.
Love you, Lindy. But where did you get the idea that ‘The Black Stallion’ was directed by Coppola (as in this week’s Suggests)? It’s a Carroll Ballard film.
Admittedly this is off-topic, but:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078872/
Coppola exec-produced it, which I always thought was interesting. Sorry–should have been more clear. Thanks!
And as always, the not-in-your-face-about-their-religion-all-the-time religious types can expect to be at best ignored, and at worst conflated with the crazies. It’s no longer offensive, but it is still disappointing.
i agree 100% with your observations of this film, lindy.
Did Lindy actually watch Religulous? I don’t think we saw the same movie. Only one of the evangelical truckers was angry, and he left the room early in the proceedings. The rest of the scene with them was done with good humor.
I thought Maher did a commendable job of trying to have honest interactions with the religious people in the film.
It’s also unclear what you have a problem with regarding his portrayal of radical Islam. Do you live with your head in the ground? What’s “Ugh” about observing radical Islam’s very real embrace of violence and misogyny?
@AMB I think Lindy’s point is that Religulous consistently hammers home the violence of RADICAL Islam, but doesn’t see the need to distinguish between the fundamentalists and the mainstream practitioners of the faith.
As much as I enjoyed chuckling at parts, I wasn’t thrilled with the film a whole. Even if Maher had only wanted to mock, he could have gotten a hell of a lot more comedic mileage by showing some restraint with his subjects. I don’t particularly enjoy watching someone pushing others into a corner, even if I mostly agree with him. I think I’m with Lindy on this one.
Not to fawn, but how great, Lindy. You just articulated exactly how I felt. My Dad’s been going, “Oh, Religulous! Oh yeah. We’ve GOT to see that!” And I think, “Stink movie. I already /earned/ my snarky, liberal arts skepticism. From college.”
@Liberal Mainline
Moderate religious people are actually addressed in the movie – as being responsible for the religious structure they support, and thus for radicals they enable.
“Grow up or die.” Best line and the most honest in the entire movie.
Why do people hate it? Well, the truth hurts; it hurts alot!
How would you critics have made this a different, kinder, gentler movie? Religion, prima facie, is a codified set of ethics, rules and standards invented by man (as Maher said ‘men with penises’) to control other men – nothing more, nothing less. If you didn’t laugh when he asked the ‘believer’ who said he couldn’t wait to be with Jesus, why he shouldn’t just kill himself now.