--- description: The HBO satirist took aim at 2015's top movie, calling its subject a "psychopathic patriot" title: Bill Maher Calls Real-Life American Sniper 'Psychopathic Patriot' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44fb24656cb2ad88/6987680f428a9e5dddcc54e5/bill-maher-ben-affleck.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Bill Maher Calls Real-Life American Sniper 'Psychopathic Patriot' by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 24, 2015 8:00 PM CUT  Host Bill Maher, center, talks with actor Ben Affleck, left, and Sam Harris, author of "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion", during "Real Time With Bill Maher," in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 2014. Host Bill Maher, center, talks with actor Ben Affleck, left, and Sam Harris, author of "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion", during "Real Time With Bill Maher," in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 2014.Janet Van Ham—HBO/AP by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 24, 2015 8:00 PM CUT The political-themed Oscar firestorm season—or is it Oscar-themed political firestorm season?—has reached its height of late, with Clint Eastwood’s war flick _American Sniper_ overtaking Ava DuVernay’s _Selma_ as the preeminent flashpoint for all the grousing. (The film is up for Best Picture and Best Actor, among other awards.) Thanks to their tweets, Michael Moore and Seth Rogen both spent the week on the receiving end of criticism from the pro-_Sniper_ crowd, [most notably Kid Rock](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/kid-rock-american-sniper-seth-rogen%5Fn%5F6522910.html "undefined"). On Friday night’s _Real Time with Bill Maher_ on HBO, the reliably cantankerous Maher suggested that Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL played in the film by Bradley Cooper, is a “psychopathic patriot.” Maher also read excerpts from Kyle’s 2013 autobiography, the book on which the film is based, in which he called Iraqis “savages.” But his critique may not have had much of an impact at the box office: [Deadline reports](http://deadline.com/2015/01/american-sniper-to-take-out-new-films-by-jennifer-lopez-johnny-depp-george-lucas-box-office-preview-1201354871/ "undefined") the film made $18 million on Friday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3681500/bill-maher-american-sniper/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3681500/bill-maher-american-sniper/"},"headline":"Bill Maher Calls Real-Life American Sniper 'Psychopathic Patriot'","datePublished":"2015-01-24T20:00:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:51:08.960Z","description":"The HBO satirist took aim at 2015's top movie, calling its subject a \"psychopathic patriot\"","url":"https://time.com/3681500/bill-maher-american-sniper/","keywords":["movies","celebrities","American Sniper"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44fb24656cb2ad88/6987680f428a9e5dddcc54e5/bill-maher-ben-affleck.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44fb24656cb2ad88/6987680f428a9e5dddcc54e5/bill-maher-ben-affleck.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Maher Ben Affleck","caption":"Bill Maher Ben Affleck","creditText":"Janet Van Ham—HBO/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3681500/bill-maher-american-sniper/","name":"Bill Maher Calls Real-Life American Sniper 'Psychopathic Patriot'"}}]}] ```