Daily Plastic: Religulous

Movie	Our Take	Other Takes
Religulous Trailer . IMDB	The ironic thing is that Maher sets himself up as an intellectual investigating the claims of religion. But he's just mimicking the kind of manipulation and obfuscation that TV preachers have been utilizing for decades. J. Robert Parks Daily Plastic	Comedian Bill Maher brings his disarmingly direct humor to the topic of religion in Religulous. The results are often as surprising as they are funny. Michael Sragow Baltimore Sun No. Neither, actually. 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. Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune Getting warmer. There's probably a better movie in the raw footage of these conversations than in the flatteringly edited final product, which also commits the unpardonable sin of not being especially funny. That Maher often seems as self-righteous as his foils and director Larry Charles (Borat) gooses the gags with lame sound effects doesn't help. Keith Phipps Onion AV Club Bingo. Any serious theologian from the mainstream Christian or Jewish traditions would have eaten his lunch for him, and that's why we don't see anybody like that in this film for more than a second or two. Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com

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