# Religulous
*Religulous* is a 2008 American documentary comedy film written by and starring comedian [Bill Maher](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-maher) and directed by [Larry Charles](https://www.edgepedia.org/larry-charles), in which Maher travels to religious sites around the world and interviews believers to argue that religious faith is irrational and dangerous. The title is a mash-up of the words *religious* and *ridiculous*.[1](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/) It was distributed by Lionsgate in the United States.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2008; US limited opening October 1, wide expansion October 3, 2008[1](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous) |
| Format | Documentary, 101 minutes, rated R for some language and sexual material[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64736) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous) |
| Key personnel | Written by Bill Maher; directed by Larry Charles; cinematography by Anthony Hardwick; producers Palmer West, Jonah Smith, and Maher[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64736) |
| Budget and opening | Production budget $2,500,000; opening weekend $3,409,643 in 502 theaters[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/) |
| Box office | Domestic gross $13,011,160 (95.4% of total); worldwide $13,639,115 per Box Office Mojo, $13,881,317 per The Numbers[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous) |
| Languages | English, Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, and Spanish[1](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/) |
| Critical reception | Metacritic Metascore of 56 (mixed or average) from 31 critic reviews[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/religulous/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and content
Maher, host of HBO's *Real Time with Bill Maher* and previously of *Politically Incorrect*, had criticized religion on television since the early 1990s; he said that "religion does more harm than good" was one of the first issues he covered when *Politically Incorrect* began in 1993, and that after years on television he considered religion the one topic deserving a broader canvas.[6](https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20081003_Tattle__Bill_Maher_and_his__Religulous_.html) He grew up with a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, a background he jokes about in the film.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/04/comedy)
The film follows Maher as he criss-crosses the globe, traveling from Jerusalem to [Vatican City](https://www.edgepedia.org/vatican-city) to [Salt Lake City](https://www.edgepedia.org/salt-lake-city) and interviewing representatives of nearly every major faith.[1](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/) Christianity receives the majority of the film's attention, followed in turn by Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and [Scientology](https://www.edgepedia.org/scientology).[8](https://www.screendaily.com/religulous/4040367.article) • [9](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/religulous/) Interviewees include Senator Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas), creationism advocate Ken Ham at the Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky, Christian evolutionist Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, and Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, a Puerto Rican cult leader who claims to be the Antichrist.[10](https://www.independent.com/2008/10/10/religulous/) • [11](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/10/religulous/) Maher also visits a truck-stop chapel in North Carolina, Florida's Holy Land Experience theme park, and a religion based around marijuana.[11](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/10/religulous/)
The film's stated thesis, set out at the beginning, is that organized religion's fascination with end-times narratives leads followers to care less about improving life on Earth than about annihilating it; Maher closes with a monologue calling for religion to be abolished, arguing that "religion must die for mankind to live."[12](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/religulous/) • [11](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/10/religulous/)
## Style and production
Larry Charles, previously a writer on *Seinfeld* and director of *Borat* (2006), directed.[1](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/) The production company was Thousand Words, in association with Bill Maher Productions, with Charlie Siskel as executive producer.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64736) • [1](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/) Many interviews were shot with three cameras, catching reactions a single angle would have missed.[13](https://secularhumanism.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2018/09/FI-D08-J09.pdf) The film is heavily edited, with sardonic voiceovers, jokey subtitles, and quick-cut inserts of clips from old biblical epics, such as two seconds of [Charlton Heston](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlton-heston) as Moses.[10](https://www.independent.com/2008/10/10/religulous/) • [11](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/10/religulous/)
A screening at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) was picketed by protesters; Maher and Charles spoke to reporters the next day, with Charles joking that if they were murdered it would make a good DVD extra.[6](https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20081003_Tattle__Bill_Maher_and_his__Religulous_.html)
## Reception and box office
**Commercial performance.** The film opened on October 1, 2008 in two theaters, expanded to 502 theaters on October 3, and reached a widest release of 568 theaters.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/) Its opening weekend gross of $3,409,643 was 26.2% of its eventual total.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous) Domestic grosses of $13,011,160 made it, according to one academic study, the most successful documentary film in the United States during its release year; the film earned an estimated $9,182,907 in DVD sales after its February 17, 2009 home-video release by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/) • [14](https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/000247c9-238c-43ec-87a0-42336ae14f59/content) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous) International performance was small, with [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) recording $627,955 (4.6% of the worldwide total) and The Numbers $870,157.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous)
**Critical response.** Reviews were mixed, with a Metacritic score of 56.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/religulous/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert rated it highly (88), writing that readers might hate it but would at least be informed, and Owen Gleiberman of *Entertainment Weekly* (91) called Maher a bombs-away provocateur who does not pretend to play fair.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/religulous/critic-reviews/) Critics repeatedly compared the film's style to [Michael Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-moore)'s documentaries, noting that scenes are built as comic sketches ending in punch lines, with Maher framed as rational and his subjects as fools.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/religulous/critic-reviews/) • [15](https://www.timeout.com/movies/religulous)
Recurring criticisms concerned fairness and accuracy. Reviewers noted that Maher picks easy targets, avoids religious moderates who emphasize good works, and treats interviewees with disdain amplified by sarcastic cutaways.[10](https://www.independent.com/2008/10/10/religulous/) • [12](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/religulous/) The National Catholic Register's Steven D. Greydanus disputed the film's claims, including a list of supposed parallels between Christ and the Egyptian god Horus that he described as having no basis in [Egyptian mythology](https://www.edgepedia.org/egyptian-mythology), and noted that Maher's figure of 16% of Americans with no religious belief actually referred, in the Pew Forum study he drew on, to no religious *affiliation*; 92% of Americans in that survey said they believed in God.[16](https://www.ncregister.com/features/religulous-vs-american-carol) Philip French of *The Guardian* called the result often funny, frequently unfair, mostly simplistic, and ultimately limited, noting the absence of eastern beliefs, the historicity of Christ, and serious theology.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/04/comedy) Peter Bradshaw, also in *The Guardian*, found the film faintly tiresome but singled out the final monologue, in which Maher condemns religion as an "enabler" of violence, as the point where it catches fire.[17](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/02/religulous-film-review) Some reviewers found the film more interesting when Maher's exchanges were genuine, as with a group of truck drivers whose faith the Screen review described as sincere and touching.[8](https://www.screendaily.com/religulous/4040367.article)
## References
1. [Religulous, Toronto International Film Festival 2008 film page](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/religulous/)
2. [Religulous, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3060631041/)
3. [Religulous (2008), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Religulous)
4. [Religulous (2008), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64736)
5. [Religulous critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/religulous/critic-reviews/)
6. [Tattle: Bill Maher and his 'Religulous', The Philadelphia Inquirer](https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20081003_Tattle__Bill_Maher_and_his__Religulous_.html)
7. [Religulous, review by Philip French, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/04/comedy)
8. [Religulous, review by Tim Grierson, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/religulous/4040367.article)
9. [Religulous, Plugged In movie review](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/religulous/)
10. [Religulous, review by Amy R. Ramos, The Santa Barbara Independent](https://www.independent.com/2008/10/10/religulous/)
11. [Religulous, review by Brett McCracken, Christianity Today](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/10/religulous/)
12. [Review: Religulous, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/religulous/)
13. [Jim Underdown, review in Free Inquiry, secularhumanism.org](https://secularhumanism.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2018/09/FI-D08-J09.pdf)
14. [Academic study of Religulous, University of Helsinki repository](https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/000247c9-238c-43ec-87a0-42336ae14f59/content)
15. [Religulous, review by David Jenkins, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/religulous)
16. [Religulous vs. American Carol, Steven D. Greydanus, National Catholic Register](https://www.ncregister.com/features/religulous-vs-american-carol)
17. [Religulous, review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/02/religulous-film-review)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Documentary films by subject: politics, war, and society › Released 1927 to 2016*
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