Product Details

• Actors: Bill Maher
• Directors: Michael Drumm
• Writers: Bill Maher
• Producers: Bill Maher, Michael Drumm, Andrea Allen, Marc Gurvitz
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: November 1, 2005
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000ANVQ5U
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,835 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Bill Maher - I'm Swiss" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"I don't hate America," comedian Bill Maher declares during I'm Swiss, recorded in March 2005 in Portland, OR. "I love America. (But) I'm embarrassed." And there we have not only the source of the title (his discomfiture, he jokes, has led him to pretend he's from another country) but also the crux of Maher's overall presentation on this, his third DVD taken from a program that was first shown on HBO. Maher's tendency toward smugness and superiority regularly provoke the wrath of his opponents on the far right. But despite his disingenuous claims to the contrary ("I'm not making this up, I'm just reporting," or "I'm not being partisan"), he certainly can't be accused of not having a point of view. His targets are many in I'm Swiss, ranging from reality TV to Cialis ("the boner pill") and even Civil War reenactments, but he reserves most of his scorn for "the morals and values crowd" and George W. Bush. He excoriates the former for turning the '04 presidential election into "a referendum on boys kissing," part of their campaign to "legislate taste" while using their "nonsensical and spiritually unnecessary" religious devotion to claim the high moral ground. As for Bush, Maher's comment that "sometimes this guy is so retarded, he could be on death row in Texas" is one of his milder jabs; and when it comes to the Iraq war, describing Baghdad as "the galleria at Halliburton Square" pretty much sums up Maher's feelings about that. Much of what Maher says during this 99-minute monologue (plus a Q&A session with the audience that's included in the bonus material) is genuinely funny, especially a segment called "Master P's Theater," in which he translates rap lyrics from Ebonics into "white." But make no mistake about it: Bill Maher is one infuriated fellow, and whether you love him or loathe him, I'm Swiss provides ample food for thought. --Sam Graham

Product Description

Bill Maher, the country's most irreverent comedian, exposes the hypocrisy, delusions and ridiculousness of American life with biting wit in this rapidfire stand-up performance.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A typically wise and funny Bill Maher production, August 11, 2005

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Unlike many people who try to joke about politics, Bill Maher has the distinction of being extremely funny. Even if you disagree with his opinions (as I do when he talks about religion--I happen to believe that religious not only is compatible with leftist thinking, but that the New Testament promotes it), he is very, very funny. Anyone who has seen POLITICALLY INCORRECT or his current show REAL TIME have repeatedly seen those who stand as far to the right as possible laughing their heads off as Maher makes one quip after another. There is no denying that he is a funny, funny man, and he is very funny in this comedy routine, a routine that originally appeared on HBO as a comedy special.

Maher is also, unfortunately, one of the most astute political commentators in America. I say unfortunately because, as Jon Stewart has repeatedly pointed out, there is something extremely sad about two of the finest political analysts in America being comedians. In fact, the only two political columnists I consistently rate above Maher and Stewart for depth of insight are Paul Krugman and E. J. Dionne. Typically, Maher is perceived as being very far to the left, but that is actually somewhat a freak of the times. At many points in the history of the U.S. he would probably be perceived as being much further to the right. He is in many regards, as he often points out himself, a classic libertarian, though without the utopian mania about the blessings that a completely unfettered free market would generate. But he is in many regards pretty much a classic Jeffersonian. Jefferson famously wrote in his NOTES ON VIRGINIA: "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. In neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." In context Jefferson wrote trying to limit the extent of government in people's lives, but today we see a vast number of people who want to extend the intrusion of religion into goverment because they do feel that policy decisions with which they disagree do in fact do them harm. Gay marriage is the classic example of this. Maher finds this lamentable, and he articulates this over and over. Essentially, he is calling for the same kind of tolerance that Jefferson advocated so strongly. This is not an especially left wing position: Barry Goldwater disliked the rise of the Reaganites because he saw them as meddling too much in the moral lives of individuals.

If intolerance of individual opinion is one of Maher's targets, another is stupidity. He is brilliant at identifying nonsense and characterizing it as such. He is also unswerving in calling a dime a dime. For instance, he points out the cowardly lack of courage shown by the media for referring to Strom Thurmond's fathering a child by a black servant in the 1925 Jim Crow South Carolina as "having an affair," as if and 18-year-old black servant had any choice in the matter. Maher calls it what it almost certainly was: rape.

But as he calls our attention to one political issue after another, Maher laces it with humor. So, in the end there are two very good reasons to see this, first to be entertained, and second to be informed. Either reason would be sufficient on its own, but together they make this a must-see.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I think I'm Swiss too., July 4, 2006

By	Stephan P. Walker (Saint Louis Park, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been a fan of Bill Maher for a long time. So when I bought "I'm Swiss," I had a vague idea of what to expect from him. It is Bill Maher after all! I know all about his politics and his usual routines, but this special was way more than I expected. Not only is he extremely funny, but he hits hard and makes many good points about the state of the country in which we live. It is just too good! Even my mom, who has seen all of his other work, said that this is his best special by far. Longer too, running about 90 minutes give or take ten. If you find the society in which we live here in America embarrasing then pick this up, laugh until you pass out, and then decide for yourself whether or not youi're Swiss too.

22 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maher's a genius, but this is quite different than his "Victory" and "Cynical" performances, November 30, 2005

By	tomjonesrocks (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

After seeing Maher's brilliant "Be More Cynical" and "Victory Begins at Home" performances, (as well as the home-run "New Rules" segments on HBO's Real Time), I found "I'm Swiss" to be a comedic disappointment. That is, if this is even intended to be a comedy show.

Maher's views are a much appreciated departure from the lock-step drivel spewed by our conservative media, but billed as a comedy show (if that's how it is billed), this performance falls remarkably short. Maher's previous DVDs are both thought provoking and hilarious, while "I'm Swiss" is merely thought provoking. It's not so awkward that you're squirming in your seat when the laughs don't come as you would with other comedians--in fact there's probably very few comedians that could really do a show like this. Maher proves he doesn't have to be funny to be watchable. But ultimately this becomes a "spoken word" performance for Maher--for better or for worse--and therefore I have to conclude it's also really not material for the uninitiated. If you're already familiar with Maher's genius, you'll probably like this--but laugh-out-loud funny it is not.

On perhaps a "positive" note (depending on your viewpoint) Maher steers unusually clear of the topic of women on this DVD. So perhaps this content will go over easier with those who on previous releases may have been quick to characterize Maher as a misogynist or be easily offended. Personally I missed that material as there's really no one out there who speaks as Maher does on these types of topics, but he sticks almost entirely to politics on this one.