My Scientology Movie

Theroux tries valiantly to turn the problem of having no access to his subject into an opportunity, in Oppenheimerish mode, but without making much headway. The opportunity to explore the attraction of Scientology also seemed missed, even though his disaffected informants appeared to be trying to provoke him to pursue this question. Entertaining enough but slight, and cannot really be counted as a success.

John Travolta sitting at home watching his telephone. My Scientology Review.

Interesting approach to tackling the subject, but it's more miss than hit. Some good bits here and there, such as the dueling cameras and awkward pauses. But overall not super memorable or revealing if you know anything about the subject.

Louis is as cool as a cucumber. I want his poise and snark in moments of great distress.

Hilarious and dangerous. Louis obviously didn't penetrate Scientology as much as he would of liked but he still delivered his usual candid approach to such a matter. Entertained, still weirded out and hoping Louis gets a chance to revisit years down the road.

This is certainly not one of Louis' best but it was informative for someone who hasn't read or watched 'Going Clear'. I imagine this documentary brings nothing new to the table for anyone who knows much about the well documented actions of the Church of Scientology. Paz de la Huerta's cameo caught me off guard and was mildly amusing.

There's issues with a production this large and a budget this big buuuut I do like the film within a film thing. The whole noir-thriller set up. Fun stuff but not my favourite by any means from the goat

Ended the documentary having learnt nothing and enjoyed very little

It's -a- scientology movie, completely generic. If you ever heard the most basic facts about scientology it has nothing to add.

I'm a huge fan of Louis, but this would have been nothing more than a middling TV episode by his standards.

The highlight is that the horrible verbal tactics the guy taught still work completely against himself when used against him later

Eh. A weak attempt at jumping on the Scientology movie bandwagon. Not a full effort.

Very little new here. The CoS did not grant Louis access, so there are few interactions between Louis and practicing Scientologists. A times, it appears Louis will challenge Marty Rathburn, and other former Scientology big wigs, by forcing them to acknowledge the terrible things they did -- but he always backs down. Challenging them and analyzing their behaviour could have been an interesting approach.

Louis takes one for the team and produces a documentary about a subject which resists any attempts to document it. Probably very aware going in that he was never going to be given any kind of access, but attempts to make something of it anyway. This might have been more engaging in the usual hour-long TV slot, but the material is definitely stretched to fill the runtime here. There are fleeting moments of interest, but very little insight is gained, and this is one of his weaker documentaries.

Manages to bring some new angles to a somewhat used up subject. Well built and entertaining.

Not my favourite Louis because it doesn't get to showcase what he really does best. It's an interesting idea though and Rathbun is one of those classic characters Louis can get the best out of.

Doesn't really bring anything new to the table if you've already seen or read Going Clear.

The re-enactments were an interesting angle but nothing new or particularly interesting came of it all.

'Louix Theroux and the Mystery of the Public Road' takes a note out of the Act of Killing to some extent with the reenactments on show. These come across as a main differentiator to the earlier revelations found in Gibney's Going Clear, other than that you get much of the same damning tales. Good to see Ralph Steadman back on a movie poster too.

Louis did his best to give this more of a cinematic narrative, and to bring a bit more of the levity found in his earlier documentaries to this, but in the end rather than feeling like an expose of Scientology, I actually felt more in terms of anxiety for Louis' safety in the face of those nutjobs, Rathburn included.

Seriously creepy people.. The powers of brainwashing and controlling primitive minds is just insane. Welcome to Trumpland where you dont need to think for yourself anymore ;). Not as good as Louis earlier documentaries, but he kept his style which is a good thing :)

There aren't many merits to the British public school system but it's difficult to imagine a better way to imbue someone with the sheer self-confidence required to face down the Scientologists' "tone 40" barking unruffled, as Theroux does here.

You won't learn much about Scientology here, it is an interesting watch but not the best on the topic. Had its moments.

I am a fan of Louis Theroux documentaries, but this one lacks his usual depth or insight. The reenactments and scenes of casting of actors for them feels just a filler for the empty space left by the lack of point of view by actual scientologists. Passes the time, but I think there already was a much better documentary on the subject last year.

Louis Theroux vs Scientologists. Pretty great, could watch stuff about Scientology for hours. So insane.

While not as penetrative as I'd have liked, Louis exposè on the cult doesn't lack bravado. I so look forward to watching the eventual documentary on the true end of this church, until then...

This is a different documentary. Part of the film shows the director auditioning actors to recreate some Scientology moments. Not every scene works but overall I would recommend this film.

Didn't learn anything new, but it was good fun.

Entertainment: 3. Spirit: 1. Sustainability: 0.5. Family: 1

Louis Theroux meets The Act of Killing, with the filmmaker casting and playing out scenes from the cult's inner seal in an attempt to portray more of the workings of the organisation at the top. It's watchable enough stuff, and some of the standoffs with camera-wielding Scientologists are amusing, but mostly it's just interviews with reformed members - nothing new for those who've watched docs on the subject before. Perhaps Theroux is too nice to investigate something so aggressively secretive.

As every door into Scientology is firmly closed for Theroux he opts for a quite different solution to engage into this subject by producing a 'fake' Scientology movie and re-enact certain events/situations. All in all it's entertaining and intriguing but not up to his usual standards. I guess even Scientology decided this little project was in the end quite harmless so I guess Louis has been labeled an SP but not enough of an annoyance to get Squirrel Busted.

It was a public road.

Some interesting new views on how Scientology harrasses people who've left it, or who try to create a documentary about. Mostly this film concentrates too much on showing how Louis tries to reenact scenes or events that happened within scientology. While some of the parts with the Sea Org members harrassing Louis interestingly show nature of Scientology, I'd still much rather get actual information and not just see them reenacting past events.