The trailer for this movie seemed intruging to me, so I rented it off of iTunes. I have to say that, while it was worth the $2.99 I paid to rent it, it would certainly not have been worth the $10 to see it in a theatre, maybe not even the $5 to rent it from a video store.
Bill Maher spends most of this film openly critiquing religious people to their face about their beliefs. He basically tries to debase their faith by asking insulting, in-your-face questions and basically being an asshole. And he knows it. He loves it. After all, that's one of the things he does best.
I was hoping this film would kind of be like a movie version of our class - showing how people think about their faith, how it affects their lives, how it has emerged as a powerful force in the world, etc. But it really involved Bill Maher going from place to place confronting people and then talking about it crassly in in-transit interviews and reflecting on how his childhood drove him away from religion. He uses the word "bull shit" a lot, even to the face of religious leaders and strong believers. Actually, on the whole he's pretty annoying. The movie didn't reveal any enlightening truths, it basically said the same thing over and over again. Fine for when you're trying to procrastinate, not worth any valuable time where you could be doing something else like brushing your teeth or getting on Facebook.
My favorite character was the man who identifies as Jesus at the Holy Land Experience, a biblical amusement park in Orlando that stands in stark contrast to such hedonistic places as Disneyworld and Universal Studios. This park is all about giving people a glimpse into the ancient Israel of Jesus' time. Since I'm from the South, it reminded me of Georgia's Antebellum plantations, where employees walk around in Civil War era clothing and show you how to churn butter and teach in a one-room schoolhouse. Except here there are singing and dancing Israelites reenacting the story of the Passion and even the Crucifixion. This Jesus (if I remember correctly he had a nametag on that actually said "Jesus") had some very insightful comments on religion and the importance of personal faith. But Maher ignored his comments and simply tried to run him over with his scathing commentary and ridicule. In my personal opinion, hey - The Holy Land Experience is obviously doing very well in terms of tourism, there's no need to go in there and confront people on their faith.
In short, Bill Maher makes himself look like a total asshole who goes around bullying religious people. And sure, there are some "nutcases" in there (his word, not mine) and he does bring up some valid points. But don't waste your time, unless you have time to waste.
I've not seen that movie but heard similar reviews. That's really too bad- a movie that had insightful discussion from both (or many) sides of this issue would have been very interesting. It would be a lot better to have everyone talk intelligently and respectfully about what they believe than for someone to make fun of another person's deeply held beliefs.
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