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'Religulous'

Ratiing:

BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

October 1, 2008

You don't need to believe in God to take issue with Bill Maher's " Religulous," a quasi-documentary that mocks religion as ridiculous, crazy, even dangerous. It's a nasty, condescending, small-minded film, self-amused and ultimately self-defeating. Its only accomplishment is to make atheists look bad -- and in this political climate they didn't need Maher's help with that.

At least "Religulous" is timely. With eight years of George W. Bush's faith-based presidency nearly behind us, and the prospect of a creationism-espousing Vice President Sarah Palin before us, nonbelievers might well feel besieged. Maher, the onetime host of "Politically Incorrect" (and current host of HBO's "Real Time"), has the makings of an effective savior: He's an acerbic comedian and incisive critic, skilled at grinding sacred cows into hamburger. And as he proved with his famous comments after 9/11 (he disagreed with Bush about the hijackers being "cowards"), Maher doesn't pull punches.

But here he's all cheap shots, traveling the globe and using various believers as unwitting straight men. His routines are often vulgar: Whenever homosexuality comes up, Maher resorts to sniggering anatomical jokes. After the interviews are wrapped, director Larry Charles ("Borat") uses the editing room to have the last laugh. At one point, the film visually compares a well-dressed black pastor to a flashy black pimp.

What's more, Maher spears only small fish: marginal ministers, inarticulate eccentrics, some dude who plays Jesus at an Orlando theme park. You won't see heavyweights like the Rev. Rick Warren or Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who might actually have scored a point or two. (And by the way, how did the filmmakers go about requesting interviews? Several subjects seem to have been ill-informed, if not misled, before the cameras started rolling.)

Maher claims that his mission is to use reason and logic to combat the fallacies of faith. In reality, his tools are sarcasm and humiliation. Either way, it's a fool's errand, as Maher - who is no fool - should know.

(R)

PLOT Comedian Bill Maher travels the globe making fun of religion.

CAST Basically, Bill Maher.

LENGTH 1:40

PLAYING AT Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Square Cinemas, Manhattan. Opening Friday at Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington

BOTTOM LINE This potentially gutsy satire chickens out with cheap shots and vulgar humor.