Religulous is an entertaining documentary that explores Religion/s and Faith from the point of view of stand-up comedian Bill Maher -an agnostic and devil's advocate- who interviews different pastors, priests, and religious leaders to prove his point - Religions are ridiculous.
I share Maher's premises, thoughts and conclusions in many ways, but Maher's point gets lost in his intransigence, which is exactly what he criticises religious people for. In other words, if you want to criticise people who preach mumbo-jumbo and things that are not reasonable you have to do so using Reason, Respect, and Restrain, otherwise you put at the same level the people and beliefs you are criticising.
Maher is very good, sharp, and witty at times, especially when he lets the nonsense express itself in full and when he directs the conversation with the people he interviews without superimposing his own views. I especially liked the interview to the Arkansas Senator (who self-destroys his won credibility as soon as he opens his mouth), the interviews to the re-incarnated Latino Jesus, the interview to the black-rich pastor, and his visit and interviews at the thematic park "Holy Land".
What annoyed me the most was that Maher doesn't show the same respect to his Christian, Jew and Muslim interviewees at all. For example, when interviewing some of the crazy Christian pastors he lets them speak, intercalating his funny comments to point out the bullshit and mixing it with super-funny visual montages. However, and despite he being half-Jew, he doesn't leave talk a Rabbi who criticises Israel, whose voice is barely heard. The same happens when he interviews some of the Dutch Muslim people. On the other hand, the only people who seem to make sense among the interviewees are Catholics, they seem to be the only ones to reconcile Science and Religion... really? (Maher is an ex-Catholic... ex?). If he had made the documentary from a less personal dogmatic point of view, without trying so hard to proof his point, he would have succeeded at doing that more convincingly.
This is a very entertaining documentary, very funny at times, annoying at others. If you don't take it too seriously and forgive Maher for occasionally bullshitting the viewer, you will enjoy it. If you are deeply religious, abstain from watching. You've been warned.
