I am a huge fan of Ricky Gervais. His wit and talent are so wonderful and I’m glad that he’s starting to grow in the United States. Last year he came out with a wonderful comedy gem called Ghost Town that made about forty dollars at the box office. Now, he’s packed a movie with famous faces and gave it another go with a somewhat original concept, but one that seemed to be something he would revel in.
The movie’s pretty darn funny, but it gets awfully heavy-handed when it decides to tackle the topic of not only religion, but any kind of belief whatsoever. Now, frankly, I have no problems with well thought out arguments against Christianity, supernatural belief and other challenging things of that nature, but what I do dislike, however, is when it’s incredibly blatant and in-your-face not leaving any kind of room for interpretation. Ricky Gervais could have just stared at the screen for ninety minutes and said: “You’re stupid for believing in God!” in his charming, sardonic accent.
I feel like the movie came off as Veggie Tales for atheists. The problem is that the movie is marketed as a fun, upbeat romantic comedy with a big twist on the whole affair. At least with Veggie Tales, you know what you’re getting the moment you pop the DVD in– Corn, tomatoes and celery reenacting biblical stories… Yeah…. Now, I don’t know if they have a Veggie Tales documenting the story of Jesus’ atonement, but if I ever see a shoddily animated cartoon of a potato Roman soldier nailing a cucumber with a beard to a cross making a comical “BWACK” noise, I’m going to flip.
The thing is, be it Christian or Atheist, I’m always against having such a glaring agenda in a film. There’s nothing wrong with political, religious or social commentary, whether it’s cynical or optimistic, it’s a bit shameless (and easy) to rely on mocking people’s beliefs for so many laughs. There are several scenes that were actually quite funny, such as when a man has an exchange with Gervais’ character about the “Man in the sky.”
Man: “Is the man in the sky the reason I was saved when I was on that boat that cap-sized?”
Mark: “Yeah!”
Man: “But… is the man in the sky the reason the boat was cap-sized?”
Mark: “…Yeah.”
That has a good, challenging comedic commentary and it still keeps things lively. But, as if the film itself weren’t obvious enough in its agenda, Gervais literally admits: “There is no man in the sky” at one point. The funny thing is, I felt like I had non-belief shoved down my throat in this movie more than I did when I watched Bill Maher’s film “Religulous” in which the literal point of the movie is to mock, belittle and challenge spiritual belief. The thing is, Bill Maher criticizes even atheists because he says there’s nothing more pompous (and Maher knows pompousness) than somebody saying: “I know for sure” one way or the other.
I agree with Maher on this. Now, I feel that I do know that God is the creator of the universe, but I don’t get my kicks by trying to convince somebody that my way of thinking is right by assuring them that I KNOW that God exists.
So, as a message from a strong admirer of Ricky Gervais: Please, Mr. Gervais, you’re known for your subtle, smart comedy, do not let this change because of any kind of other agenda you may have. You’ve never seemed an oppressive man, but even if you do have an agenda, keep it a little more subtle, a little more open for interpretation and little more respectful.
-CSL
Posted by colinsays 
