One of my all time favorites.

best movie i've ever seen.

A different way of telling a story

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Louis Theroux documents his investigation into what goes on behind the scenes of the infamous Church of Scientology.As of right now (2017), there are two big documentaries on Scientology. This one, and the one made by HBO. Frankly, the HBO one is a bit better and definitely a must-see. This one is also good, and while it covers much of the same ground, it does go into other areas, too. Theroux, to his credit, seems to have very little fear of being arrested and gets some great footage near the base.This film does have some strange narrative devices, such as casting actors in the roles of real Scientologists and then having them act out events that allegedly occurred. One scene in particular (in "the hole") is very effective. The casting of "Tom Cruise", unfortunately, never seems to go anywhere.

The biggest problem with this documentary from Louis Theroux is that it is very, very low energy...and other documentaries have covered this same fascinating material and infused it with more energy and passion. My advice is to try one of these other films, such as Leah Remini's very passionate and personal series about the same subject, "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath". However, instead of hearing folks talking about their own personal experiences, often Theroux recreates scenes or talks with very little energy or enthusiasm...which is strange because he CAN make amazing films on cults, such as his seemingly heartfelt films on the infamous Fred Phelps cult "The Most Hated Family in America"--and the best film about the Westboro Baptist Church and their hate-filled protests. I have almost always loved Theroux's films...but this one is clearly the exception and I wish he just hadn't bothered.

This has got to be one of the most disappointing movies I've seen and when it was over my mouth was literally agape at just how bad it was. I should preface this by saying that I am an absolute HUGE fan of Louis and my disappointment was amplified because I was hoping (expecting) to see something on par with his previous work. The film is stilted, disjointed, and feels poorly thought out. The lack of any real new material forces the crew to constantly cut back to the half-baked casting calls and 're- enactments' which never make sense and don't serve much, if any, purpose. The crew seem to set out with no real goal but to create a studio version of Scientology for Louis to take part in. That never comes to fruition, which is a good thing because it was a terrible idea in the first place and a horribly weak cornerstone to place the framing of the film on. Normally I find Louis' mode of interviewing very interesting- his characteristic long pauses and 'innocent' way of questioning his subjects through absolute frankness makes for surprisingly revealing answers, but here it just feels deliberately insulting. At one point in the film, a major player and ex-Scientologist is harassed by some members and is visually upset. Instead of using this to push the ex-Scientologist to another level, Louis instead decides to needle him some more with a not completely unnecessary but unbelievably poorly timed question.Pointless and disappointing are two words that immediately came to mind after finishing this film. Right near the end, the ex-Scientologist that was harassed insinuates that the gloves are coming off; I finally got excited, expecting some big revelations from this man, only to have the credits roll. This film set out with no goal and ends exactly that way- accomplishing nothing.

MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE is a big-screen outing for the likable documentarian Louis Theroux, well known here in the UK for his TV series WEIRD WEEKENDS, which I personally loved. The subject matter of this one is obvious from the title, but the problem is that there are already documentaries on the same subject matter, and better ones too. Even the notorious PANORAMA episode with the on-air presenter breakdown is better than Theroux's version.The problem with this is the lack of really meaty material. You want to see Theroux infiltrating the church, interviewing members and causing consternation, but aside from a couple of arguments in the street, none of that really happens. Theroux attempts to get around this lack of meat by staging re-enactments of certain real-life events and, while dramatic, they're just not as effective as true documentary footage would be. That's why I don't like documentaries which extensively use re-enactment footage, although there are a few exceptions like THE IMPOSTER where it is effective.