Religulous 2008

Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies: 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. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: 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. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Religulous has an unholy fervor that should start many bonfires. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A provocation, thinly disguised as a documentary, that succeeds in being almost as funny as it is offensive. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: It's sharp and outrageously funny enough to keep it from coming off like a self-righteous screed and to keep Maher from looking like the Michael Moore of religion -- for the most part. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: 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. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Maher's too smart to make a movie this dumb. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Really funny and well-made. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: As an exchange of ideas, this is a hopeless project, since Maher's doubt is as immovable as his interviewees' certainty. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Maher sets out not after answers but cheap laughs that preach, so to speak, to the converted. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: 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. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Was Maher afraid he might muddy his clownish jape if he actually brought into the mix a learned theologian? Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Funny as it is, Religulous is too much an exercise in preaching to the happily nonconverted. You others be damned. Sound familiar? Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: 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. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's a film that's destined to make a lot of people mad, but Maher, for all his showy atheistic 'doubt,' isn't just trying to crucify religion -- he truly wants to know what makes it tick. He leaves no stone tablet unturned. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: [Maher] converts 'honest doubt' into a rant against the ranters. Listening to it is like switching from Fox News to MSNBC, a different perspective but the same damn noise. My God, when will the racket end? Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Many may laugh, and many will surely be offended, but nothing here bridges the gap between those two reactions. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: To religious conservatives of all denominations, it's a punch in the nose. (Except when Maher's bashing the other zealots, those wackjobs.) To atheists and agnostics, it's catharsis Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It's a nasty, condescending, small-minded film, self-amused and ultimately self-defeating. Its only accomplishment is to make atheists look bad -- and in this political climate they didn't need Maher's help with that. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: 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. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: 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. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Maher isn't unfair. Simply restating religious tenets to believers amounts to ridiculing them, but so be it. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Fearless as a fatwa and subtle as a Second Coming, Religulous is a revelation. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: For most of the film, Maher uses the devout as straight men to set up his jokes. Though initially sidesplitting, over the course of Religulous, Maher has diminishing comic returns. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Being snarky and smug doesn't equate to providing insight, and there's more than one occasion when the filmmakers lose sight of this in their zeal to spread the Gospel According to Maher. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This movie is about Bill Maher's opinion of religion. He's very smart, quick and funny, and I found the movie entertaining, although sometimes he's a little mean to his targets. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: [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. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Bill Maher does something amazing in Religulous. He makes Michael Moore look incredibly likable in comparison. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Maher's antireligion documentary, Religulous, has numerous blasts of raucous humor amid passages that feel like a screed. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: 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. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Over-extended but nonetheless thought provoking and humorous documentary. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: 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. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: In a string of frank, often hilarious but always well-considered conversations with various Christians, Maher incisively asks them exactly what skeptics always ponder about religion in general and Christianity in particular. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Religulous doesn't really go anywhere. It's ultimately a celebration of the old-time religion we call entertainment. Read more

Neely Tucker, Washington Post: 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. Read more