Word: maher
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Fireproof is a family drama, made in rural Georgia by two brothers who are evangelist ministers; it teaches that God is the best marriage counselor, and is made for Christian moviegoers. Religulous, a documentary written and hosted by comedian Bill Maher (of HBO's Real Time), deals with the most profound tenets of the major religions, and the idiots who take them seriously; its target audience is left-wing scoffers, infidels if you will - or, as they prefer to be called, the reality-based community. Fireproof wears a badge of sweet solemnity, seeking the audience's empathy for decent people...
...Maher, who says he's not an atheist (because that implies a degree of certitude as dogmatic as religious belief) is more an atheist-leaning agnostic. But he does have the missionary spirit; he's certainly been proselytizing for Religulous. In early September he was at the Toronto Film Festival, accompanied by the movie's director, Larry Charles, who in his hat, shades and long beard looked like a hipster Muppet Dumbledore. On stage, Maher dismissed Sarah Palin, who had just given her big speech at the Republican National Convention, as a "full-fledged Jesus freak" with a medieval view...
...Which is what, at its infrequent best, Religulous is: not so much a movie, more a series of interviews with the kookier, clueless representatives of the faithful. Maher chats up one guy who used to be a Satanist priest and a fundamentalist minister whom God cured of being gay. He talks with born-again truckers, and some evangelists who make a plush living off the generous contributions of their cash-strapped communicants. He visits the Creation Museum and an Orlando theme park called the Holy Land Experience, where the actor playing Jesus flunks Maher's quiz on some of Christianity...
...someone with a similar bio-sketch to Maher's - a religious skeptic raised in a middle-class Catholic family - I might be expected to be a devout follower of Religulous. But I can't fully believe in it. Maher and Charles, the director of the Borat movie, should have come up with a rowdier, more penetrating exposé than this one. The film registers decently on the amuse-o-meter, and its offensiveness has a tonic value, but it's deficient in shape, propulsion, urgency. Look at almost any Michael Moore movie, and you'll find the sharp personality...
Religulous Directed by Larry Charles; not yet rated; out now A documentary from the famously godless comedian Bill Maher and the director of Borat creates hopes of a rowdier, sharper exposé than this one. A series of impious questions posed to believers of every stripe, Religulous (soft g) has its funny and offensive moments, but it lacks the pungent personality and editorial skills of any Michael Moore movie...