Well - Is It the Last Great Intellectual Frontier?

I wanted to like Religulous. I wanted to laugh, to be outraged at the outrageous, the way I feel when I see Chris Rock. Unfortunately, that didn't happen here nearly as much as I wanted it to.

Religulous didn’t offend me - it disappointed me.

At times, comedian Bill Maher and director Larry Charles (Borat) offer a side-splittingly funny documentary doubting and mocking organized religion. Too often, though, they visit the Michael Moore school of smug, “I’m the smartest person in the room” filmmaking.

(I feel a personal-faith disclaimer is necessary here. I’m Catholic, attended Holy Name for six years and CCD for four. I confess that struggles with some doctrine and an inability to find a parish I like have led me to stop going to church. I pray nightly, I thank God for blessings, and I try to live an ethically proper life. Now, back to your regularly scheduled review.)

Maher, son of a Catholic father and Jewish mother, said in Being Catholic Now, “[T]he last great intellectual frontier is to debunk religion.” He attacks several groups: Christian, Jew, Mormon, Muslim, Scientology (in a scathingly hysterical bit, disguised as a proselytizer in London’s Hyde Park).

When Religulous sticks to observations and arguments, one can laugh and learn simultaneously. As someone who questioned the Garden of Eden story as a child, I appreciated Maher saying, “It worries me that there are people running my country who believe in a talking snake.” (To which Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., replies, “People in the Senate don’t have IQs.”) Maher also questions the similarities between Christ and the gods Mithra, Horus and Krishna - they’re thousands of years older, yet we’re taught Christ came first.

It’s when Maher and Charles cross the line into condescending that Religulous let me down. They barely disguise their desire to ridicule at a religious “amusement park” (for lack of a better phrase), even though the actor playing Jesus seems open to discussing their very divergent views. Maher touches on the hypocrisy of fighting wars in God’s/Allah’s name but doesn’t delve into this nearly as much as he should. Instead, he opts for easy shots at tired targets.

Religulous probably will appear to Maher’s disciples. As for gaining converts to his cause? Not so likely.