If the documentary branch of the Academy is trying to make themselves irrelevant, they’re doing a mighty fine job. Yesterday the 15 semi-finalists for next year’s Best Documentary were announced, and noticeably absent from the list was Bill Maher’s massively entertaining Religulous, which is by far the highest-grossing doc of the year. Now, that statistic alone shouldn’t qualify it as an Oscar front-runner—that would be like saying Pirates of the Caribbean should have been a Best Picture nominee. But whether or not Religulous ended up actually scoring a nomination next January, it certainly should have made this week’s shortlist. Then again, this is the same group that also omitted Grizzly Man from the list of semi-finalists and neglected to nominate the terrific Dixie Chicks doc Shut Up and Sing two years ago. The message here seems to be: If your documentary manages that rare feat of actually entering into the cultural zeitgeist, don’t expect the Academy to pat you on the back too.
Bill Maher's 'Religulous' snubbed by Academy
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Comments (1-30) of 47 Add your comment
Quick fact check: Grizzly Man came out in 2005, not last year.
Quick fact check: Grizzly Man came out in 2005, not last year.
Trying to make themselves irrelevant? Umm… they’ve been irrelevant for at least 3 decades dude… where the hell have you been?
What’s worse about not nominating “Shut Up and Sing” by Barbara Koppel, is that they nominated the far-inferior “Jesus Camp.”
As an avid documentary film watcher (seriously, I love them) I am very surprised by this news. this was the most entertaining, intersting, and provocative documentary this year.
Yeah, sure they miss that one. But they managed to include some of the best reviewed docs of the year like “Man on wire”, “Trouble the water”, “Standard operating procedure” and “Encounters at the end of the world”. And the fact that none of this movies has even grossed a million dollars goes to prove that the academy cares more about quality.
They lost all credibility when Hoop Dreams wasn’t nominated in 1994. That could have won Best Picture, much less Best Doc.
Though the Oscars have certainly had some credibility gaps over the year (Driving Miss Daisy anyone?) the Best Doc crew has shown some shocking lapses in judgement.
The documentary branch isn’t the only one that messed up, remember last year when both Persepolis and 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days got snubbed in the Foreign Film category? Not only should they have been easy nominations, but also front-runners in the category to win.
I was upset about the Religulous snub, and I was also hoping Young@Heart would at least make it to the shortlist.
Actually, I support this decision…. Aren’t good documentaries supposed to allow us to form our own thoughts, not tell us what to think?… Don’t get me wrong, I loved Religulous, I thought it was hilarious. But, come on, let’s be fair, it wasn’t a documentary, in the true sense, really. Religulous was far too blatantly one-sided to be a documentary…..One man marching around the world telling us his thoughts isn’t a documentary!
Religulous, not nominated?!?!?!?!
Next thing you will tell me is that Grizzle Man wasn’t nominated……..
Oh wait….
TO ALAN..I agree with you wholeheartedly!
I agree, Religulous, while entertaining, was hardly a documentary and it’s a good thing it won’t be nominated. If this category is going to maintain any credibility, it can’t nominate “docs” that are just about one guy ranting about his point of view and interviewing crazies just so he can say “see? I’m right! I’m right!”
Are you telling me Jesus Camp wasn’t pointed in one direction?!?!?!?
Fahrenheit 9/11??
Religulous has every right to be nominated…
Where is “Body of War”???
Excellent film.
Where is Body of War???
Great film…
I am sorry, people still respect Bill Maher?
You guys are wrong. Docs are, for the most part, biased one way or another. There are very few docs that are strictly neutral.
“Religulous” was a mighty unpleasant time at the movies. It truly takes a special breed of dickhead to find footage of a woman who killed her kids for religious reasons, and then play a jokey pop song over it. This is a film by smug jerks, for smug jerks — it’s not only a bad argument, it’s bad propaganda. Anyone can argue against anything by picking on the dumbest, freakiest or most uninformed of the pack. Maher is only interested in the easiest of targets, making him a complete coward, and he didn’t even listen to their answers anyway.
Doesn’t matter, “Man on Wire” is going to win.
Religulous was not snubbed, it just wasn’t good enough. It is a fun 90 minutes in the theatres (excluding the last 2 minutes, which I felt undid all of Maher’s work), but was not up to the artistic standards of Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World, or Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure. There are plenty of wonderful and relevant films on the shortlist, and maybe you should celebrate these films instead of moaning about the one subpar movie that didn’t make it on.
And documentaries are allowed to be biased! In fact, they are always biased, some are just more subtle than others.
The biggest mistake the Academy made in this category was last year when they didn’t nominate (or even include on the shortlist) The King of Kong, one of my favorite films of 2007.
The movie flopped.
there’s an extra on the Hoop Dreams Criterion DVD where Roger Ebert rants about the ridiculous nepotism in the best documentary category, which resulted in Hoop Dreams not being nominated. Looks like things haven’t changed much (though I didn’t see Religulous)
Um, a movie that makes more than five times its production budget is most decidedly NOT a flop. The movie has grossed $12.6 million and only cost $2.5 to make. In the doc world, that’s a hit. It was a good movie that makes you think, whether you agree with him or not. It should have been nominated.
Maybe the voting committee are all non-atheists. Regardless of their beliefs, this is a exceptionally well-made, edgy and funny film that deserves major props. Shame on the Academy.
It’s true that docs can be biased, but they still need to show both points of view fairly, unlike Maher in Religulous and Moore in Farenheit 9/11. If not they just become rants instead of well-made, oscar-worthy, docs.
the reason religulous got ’snubbed’ is extremely obvious. it’s not very good. a 56 on metacritic, for example. that’s not Oscar-worthy material.
Too bad for Bill. Although it was like shooting fish in a barrel, it was enormously entertaining. But a big Yay Shout Out for Man on Wire! The end of that movie brought tears to my eyes. As my daughter said, brilliant.