Religulous

Bill Maher’s one-man attack on religious fundamentalism has more bark than bite — a skeptical, secular-humanist hounding of the hypocrites, amusingly annotated with sarcastic subtitles and clips from cheesy biblical spectacles. Religulous opens with Maher in Israel, reporting from Megiddo, the designated spot for Armageddon. By way of an alternative vision of the apocalypse, the movie breaks into a comic montage of holy men, true believers, and pious pols. Maher spends the rest of the 101 minutes turning his blunderbuss on this barrel of fish. Though his antics are directed by Borat showman Larry Charles, Maher is hardly comparable to Sacha Baron Cohen as a trickster performance artist. And Maher is no provocateur like Michael Moore, comforting the afflicted and confronting the infidels. Maher is pleased to play devil’s advocate and presents himself as celebrity Antichrist. Throwing his own brand of snake oil on the fire, he insists that faith makes a virtue of stupidity and he warns the world to “grow up or die.” Heavy stuff.