Religulous, 2008 (Grade C)

Director: Larry Charles
Topic: Religion

sez says:  This is not really a documentary--it tries to take the form of a documentary, with Bill Maher traveling around and talking to people about religion...but it is more of a comic stand up show with people as props and a platform for Bill Maher's opinions. I generally like Bill Maher and I am not a big defender of organized religion--but this really is a cheap shot.  Without a doubt much evil has been done (and is currently being done) in the name of religion.  And it is not hard to find wacky people professing belief in miracles and such.  But Maher never seriously asks anyone a question that he wants an answer to--rather the format is something like this: he asks, they get a few lines and then he provides the answer he is looking for via commentary that is disguised as another question.  If you watch this, note how much time he talks (probably over 80% of the time) vs how much time he gives to listening to the people he interviews. And when he does have them talk, it is edited material to make them look as stupid as possible.  Sometimes his is funny--and Maher's point is one worth taking about--but a documentary this is not.

mjc says:  being a methodist minister and all, I have come in for my fair share of ridicule and abuse for the sins of my fathers in the faith (and some mothers) and I am generally lumped together with the nut cases on the religious right, so I would have been happy to have a documentary that differentiated between the various religious perspectives.  This wasn't it, although Maher's conversation with the renegade priest in front of theVatican came close.  Don't bother.  (Grade C)