Maher mostly makes himself look ridiculous in 'Religulous'

Judging by the title, a combination of the words "religion" and "ridiculous," Maher hopes to use his film to introduce doubt into houses of faith. That initial desire could have led to an evenhanded, objective documentary, but Maher is hardly a champion of rational discourse. In dealing with the contentious issue of religion, the comedian plays the role of antagonist, forcing people of every faith to defend their beliefs and answer questions they are rarely asked. The film features an impressive range of interviews with everyone from fervent televangelists to experts in neurosociology. Along the way, Maher meets many surprising characters, including gay Muslim activists whose sexuality goes against the tenets of their professed faith. At his best, our host forces his subjects to spout damning gaffes. A Creationist congressman, for example, ultimately admits that "you don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate."

Though the documentary deals with a rich array of characters, Maher's brusque persona prevents the production from reaching any compelling conclusions. The host begins the documentary by propagating a critical stance toward religion. He even shows an understanding of how atypical his atheistic views are when he declares that "not having faith is a luxury" for those who don't need faith to make it through the day. Often, however, Maher comes off worse than the subjects he wants to mock. An aggressive adversary, he dominates his subjects with crude expletives. After hugging a "reformed" gay man, he jokes that the man had a "hard-on" during their embrace. Such vulgar comments typify Maher's preference for easy laughs over insight.

Yet what proves most off-putting about "Religulous" is that Maher is not the equal-opportunity offender that he claims to be in interviews and in beginning of the film. Take his stance on three different faiths: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The former two are labeled as systems that, at their roots, incite violence and oppress women. Though he claims the third is "just as crazy," his entire discourse against the faith centers around the kooky lengths some people go to avoid the restrictions of the Sabbath. How can one really examine a religion's hypocrisy by simply pondering what happens on its day of rest? If Maher is going take an equally critical look at all three faiths, he cannot start from such different angles.

Maher's refusal to take the three religions to task equally causes his footage from Israel to fall flat. Given his usually inflammatory views, one might expect the host to have a lot to say about an area so defined by religious tensions. Instead, Maher goes off on silly tangents about how the Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock, is built on Jewish holy ground. After spending minutes describing this, Maher concludes that the holy site goes through periods of being "under new management." These scenes showcase the bombastic star utterly defanged of his typically vicious satire.

With his careful eye and clever editing, director Larry Charles goes a long way to make Maher's broad arguments about religion somewhat more effective. For example, when Maher visits a Christian theme park called "The Holy Land Experience" in Orlando, a "Passion of the Christ"-like play ensues, complete with a battered Jesus. After capturing the tourists swept up in the bloody spectacle, the camera cuts to a shot of a plane overhead. The juxtaposition between the primal scene and the epitome of modern man's achievement convincingly suggests that some forms of Christian worship may hearken back to a more barbaric time. When a televangelist says that he tells his flock to direct its "passion" to religion, the filmmaker presents a roadside bomb exploding. Charles exposes the violence that lies deeply imbedded in fanatical religious devotion without saying a word. Indeed, the "Borat" director establishes his knack for uncovering the humor inherent in everyday life.

But even the deft hand of Larry Charles cannot overcome the increasingly shallow bluster of Bill Maher. During the film's finale, Maher goes into preacher mode, decreeing that "religion must die for man to live!" All the more humorous criticism of earlier scenes has been replaced with a conviction that eerily resembles the narrow-minded subjects that the documentary seeks to lampoon. "Religulous" can never truly tackle the big questions about religion that it sets out to answer since its host is essentially a fundamentalist nonbeliever - an atheist as dogmatic as any believer - parading as a rebel.

3 out of 5 paws