Bill Maher's "Religulous" Out Of Oscar Contention

Bill Maher's documentary exploring religion, "Religulous," is out of Oscar contention after being left out of the final 15 list released by the Academy in the Best Documentary category.

Other notable snubs: "Dear Zachary," "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" and "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."

Instead, the final 15 are:

"At the Death House Door"
"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"
"Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"Fuel"
"The Garden"
"Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts"
"I.O.U.S.A."
"In a Dream"
"Made in America"
"Man on Wire"
"Pray the Devil Back to Hell"
"Standard Operating Procedure"
"They Killed Sister Dorothy"
"Trouble the Water"

The film was directed by Larry Charles and has made almost $13 million on a budget of just $2.5 million since its October 1 release.

Comments

[sammdphd]

You actually should go see this movie...it's a nice dose of reality

[Mitchla]

Well... as much as I love Bill's politics, Religulous just wasn't that good. It was snarky, often mean-spirited, and had some dishonest editing, where interviewees were "given" reactions through editing.

[jamesspada]

I'm not surprised. Anything or anyone that questions religious belief in this country wil always be shunned. I'm sure most of the nominators didn't even see it. It's like Tony Curtis and others, who said they wouldn't see "Brokeback Mountain" and yet were allowed to vote on Best Picture. Ridiculous. The Oscars have way too much attention paid to them anyway. It's a silly popularity contest and usually doesn't have anything to do with what or who is actually "The Best."

[Raster]

This blatant snub has PC written all over it. Don't offend the "Religious" among us.

[johnqsittinzen]

Nonsense. Just because you agree with the thematic bent of RELIGULOUS does not make it a great movie. There are some pretty fantastic documentaries on that list, on a wide range of pertinent contemporary social issues, and there are at least two filmmakers who are at the very top of their art: Errol Morris and Werner Herzog. I mean, come on, I love Bill Maher as much as the next irreverent s.o.b, but transferring his "man on the street" interviews to a feature length doc focused on his favorite sacred cow, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to rate in this category against the likes of Morris and Herzog.

Blatant snub. Please.

[Scalawag]

My wife & I went to see it last weekend & enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, since we live in OK, we had to drive to Dallas to watch it.

[sammdphd]

LOL

[SevereTireDamage]

I never heard of any of those 15 movies...

[Rokgoo]

"Religulous" was good but not as good as it could be. He talked too much and it was partly boring. Maybe his next documentary will be better.

[EndangeredJackalope]

Agreed. I really liked it, but it was still 2/3 of a full thought.

[Stagehnd1]

ARE YOU KIDDING!!!!...I didn't want it to end...boring my a$$..

[Pupadup4oBama]

I thought it was too short!

[johnqsittinzen]

Surprised Oren Jacoby's documentary of James Carroll's scholarly book CONSTANTINE'S SWORD is not up for contention. It should be. In it, Jacoby follows Carroll as he visits the actual sites studied for and articulated in his work for the book, a dark exploration of the violent history of Christianity, putting a human face on a deeply moving reckoning with Christianity's bloody past and America's ominous present.

It's available on Netflix if anybody wants to check it out. I recommend it.

[owltattoo]

I went to see Religulous and loved it. Just loved it. When it comes out on DVD I plan to buy it for everyone I can. But despite my personal affection for a documentary that was clever, funny and pointed it was not Oscar material. I can't imagine Maher meant for it to be. Since when does he care what the establishment thinks, anyway?

[Nikola Tesla]

BOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[Retrofuturistic]

Cowards.

[Americano]

The movie sucked!! It had as many "half-truths from facts " as the religious organization he targeted.

[Myshkin57]

Name them.

[PaxMundis]

The movies under consideration include movies about such "safe" topics as how the government failed New Orleans, how torture has become standard operating procedure for the military, and how many Americans are being crushed by debt. Hardly cowardly stuff.

[tomas0808]

Maher, go back to the Playboy mansion. Your cheap talk will work on those bimbos

[Nikola Tesla]

Jealous much?

[Raster]

No, he's most likely one of them.

[JohnJudy]

Darned Godless Hollywood librul elite!

Oh wait.

(Head explodes)

[KathyinCT]

THANK YOU for making me giggle for a long time.

We all need some funnies on this site.

[DeSwiss]

Exactly what I was thinking....

LOL!!!

[LMPE]

Bill Maher is no Michael Moore. Maher was the toughest on Islam and the softest on Judaism. While focusing on the oppression of women under Muslim fundamentalism, he also should have looked at oppression of women under orthodox Judaism. Then I really would have considered the movie an Oscar contender.

But it was a great documentary otherwise.

[Americano]

Good point! A fact few know, if someone converts to Judism and lives in Israel, when he or she dies, they do not get barried in blood line Jewish cemetaries. I find that very interesting and do not understand it..

[SevereTireDamage]

That's not entirely accurate. While there is an unfortunate problem -- due to the fact that it's controlled by the most orthodox faction of Judaism -- with some converts, and even some North Americans of Jewish heritage, having to "prove" that they're "really" Jews (for, e.g., marriage purposes), it is by no means a "fact" that converts cannot be buried in Jewish cemeteries. Some hard-core Orthodox cemeteries might attempt to exclude them, but hey, there are bigots everywhere.

Careful with those broad brushes...

(Also, "blood line Jewish" has no meaning in my experience.)

[LesserOf2Evils]

Agreed. I expected brave slamming of religion, something along the lines of old Monty Python or George Carlin in terms of being unafraid of the consequences.

This flick was a huge disappointment, I could imagine a guy like W Bush enjoying it, and that just isn't right.
This film should be irreverent and controversial, and for a few puritans it might be. But for fans of comedy that goes to the edge, it is a very weak effort.
I thought Bill had balls.

[farka]

I loved Religulous, but the 15 are arguably better picks. Standard Operating Procedure is fantastic and Man On Wire is otherworldly. (Can I plug here that all three have reviews on Documentaryfilms.net?) I don't see too much of a controversy with the picks they have, and, being a person who watches a LOT of documentaries, I'd have to put those two films as obvious frontrunners.