Dogma & 9 Other Great Religious Satires

Satirical movies are rare in the mainstream, because they rarely become box office hits (even the well-known ones like Fight Club and American Psycho barely scrape by financially), but cinema is a terrific medium for satire. One subject that a lot of filmmakers have satirized is organized religion, both specific religions and the idea of religion itself.

Kevin Smith’s Dogma is a great example of a religious satire. As Smith is a lifelong Catholic, the movie has a lot of affection for the Bible – as well as a deep knowledge of its teachings – so the lampooning doesn’t feel like an attack on anyone’s beliefs.

10 Dogma

Kevin Smith began writing a movie called God – a satire of the Catholic beliefs he was raised with – before he made Clerks. He put it to one side while he shot Clerks and returned to the project after Clerks was picked up for distribution. He retitled it Dogma and it eventually hit theaters five years later as Smith’s fourth directorial effort.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck star as a pair of fallen angels who plan to use a loophole in Christian doctrine to get back into Heaven. However, since doing so would prove God to be fallible and therefore erase all existence, agents of both Heaven and Hell are out to stop them.

9 Bruce Almighty

Jim Carrey stars in Bruce Almighty – one of his many high-concept box office hits – as downtrodden news reporter Bruce Nolan, who believes that God isn’t doing his job right. God, played by Morgan Freeman, grants him his powers to see if he can do any better.

At first, he has a blast, but soon finds himself crushed under the immense pressure of keeping an eye on everybody in the world. The movie doesn’t do quite as much with its juicy premise as one would hope, but Carrey brings his A-game.

8 This Is The End

Evan Goldberg’s directorial debut alongside Seth Rogen revolves around Rogen and a few of his closest collaborators (Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson etc.) as fictionalized versions of themselves surviving the Christian apocalypse in James Franco’s postmodern Hollywood mansion.

As they contend with demonic possessions and the arrival of Satan’s armies, Rogen and co. riff on how crazy it is that the Bible turned out to be true and express disappointment with being left out of the Rapture.

7 Heaven Can Wait

Adapted from the Harry Segall play of the same name, Heaven Can Wait stars Warren Beatty (who also co-wrote, co-directed, and produced the movie) as a man whose guardian angel mistakenly takes him to Heaven.

His quest to return to Earth and live the rest of his life is complicated by the fact that his body has been cremated. The movie reunited Beatty with his Shampoo and McCabe & Mrs. Miller co-star Julie Christie.

6 Religulous

Technically, Religulous can’t be satire because it’s a documentary and the two are in conflict, but much like Michael Moore, Bill Maher brought a healthy dose of humor to his exploration of the world’s religions.

Borat’s Larry Charles directed the movie, which went by the title A Spiritual Journey during production in order to land interviews with religious leaders without giving away the comedic intent.

5 The Invention Of Lying

Very on-brand for Ricky Gervais’ acid-tongued uncompromising comedic style, The Invention of Lying is set in an alternate universe in which everybody tells the truth all the time and the notion of lying doesn’t exist. Gervais co-directed and co-wrote the movie and stars as the first man to tell a lie.

When he makes up an afterlife to make his mother feel better about dying, he becomes a worldwide sensation. He essentially uses the power of mistruth to create Christianity. He invents the concept of Heaven, encourages everybody to follow “ten rules,” and speaks to a “Man in the Sky” who promises paradise after death if people do good things in life and punishment if they do bad things.

4 Four Lions

Extremist terrorism isn’t the easiest subject to turn into comedy, but Chris Morris’ razor-sharp satire Four Lions managed it. Riz Ahmed stars as a young radicalized Muslim who plots to suicide-bomb the London Marathon.

The movie tackles the very serious subject of terrorism through the hysterical lens of a farce, as Morris aimed to bring out the “Dad’s Army side to terrorism.”

3 Sausage Party

Another Rogen and Goldberg effort, Sausage Party doesn’t overtly address a particular religion like This is the End; rather, it lampoons belief in deities in general. It’s a darkly comic spoof of Pixar movies about anthropomorphic food in a grocery store.

All the foods dream about being purchased, so they can be taken to “The Great Beyond.” However, they’re horrified to discover that in the Great Beyond, all that awaits them is being eaten alive.

2 Oh, God!

Helmed by comedy legend Carl Reiner, Oh, God! stars comedy legend George Burns as a supermarket manager who is chosen by God to spread his wisdom on Earth.

Naturally, the Christian brass, the media, and the man’s own wife are skeptical about whether or not he’s actually speaking on the Lord’s behalf.

1 Monty Python’s Life Of Brian

On the promotional tour for their movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Pythons were incessantly asked what their next project would be, so Eric Idle jokingly announced Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory as their follow-up film. This seed of an idea eventually grew into Life of Brian, the definitive cinematic takedown of organized religion.

Loosely strung together with incisive satirical sketches – including some of the Pythons’ all-time greatest material – Life of Brian tells the story of a man in Biblical times who’s mistaken for the Messiah and later condemned to die on a cross.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3465 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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