It’s either ironic or blasphemous that I finally saw this movie on Christmas Day. But, then again, as Bill Maher points out in the beginning of this documentary, it’s not like there’s any indication in the Bible, or any other Holy Text, that Dec. 25th is the day that Jesus Christ was born. Not that it really matters, I suppose. I mean, if you’re a Christian, you have to celebrate Christ’s birthday sometime, so you might as well do it on Dec. 25th. It’s as good a day to celebrate as any other. But I digress.

I thought that this was a good and thought-provoking documentary. Certainly, if you are a sincere believer in any particular faith, nothing in this film is going to change your mind. But I really don’t think the makers of this film expected it to. I think it’s primary goal is to be entertaining, and on that level, it succeeds. Certainly, the bulk of the film is spent pointing out the absurdities of certain behavior among some religious people. Like, when he goes to interview a Christian minister who used to be a member of the R&B group Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, & tells Bill Maher to call him “Doctor.” A message on the screen points out that the Rev. does not have a degree of any kind. Bill also gets kicked out of the Vatican, and the Mormon Temple. And while in a Mosque in Mecca, a worshipper walks by and shouts that “That Jew” doesn’t belong in there. And, even worse, he says Bill is “not funny.”

I liked it.

A good movie, interesting story, but I hate to say it, there was only ONE weak link: Beyonce. She’s just not a very good actress. I saw no genuine emotion from her. She was fine in lighter fare like Austin Powers and The Pink Panther (I haven’t seen Dreamgirls), but she was out of place here. It was probably worse because the rest of the cast was so good, so it made her own shortcomings seem even more obvious. When you’re in a scene with an Oscar winner like Adrian Brody, you need to bring your A-game, just to keep up, but she didn’t.

Rapper “Mos Def” was brilliant as Chuck Berry (The REAL King of Rock N Roll) and the actor playing Muddy Waters was spectacular.

Started off great. An interesting premise, suspensful build-up, & nice special effects. But it kind of lost steam in the end, I thought. I can’t be more specific without spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it.

I need to watch the original version now.

Don’t believe the negative hype. This is a great movie, and Tom Cruise does a very good job in it. You can tell it’s good because, even if you’ve never heard of this real life plot, you know that it obviously failed, it still keeps you interested in it. In fact, the actual assassination attempt happens a little over halfway into the film, so there’s still about 40-50 minutes left, but you never get bored. See, the conspirators thought that they had succeeded, and that Hitler was dead, so they started acting as if they were in control of Germany now, and it’s really suspensful to see their plan unfold, & watching to see how it all will fall apart. Highly recommened.

Just my opinion.