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MOVIES / IN CINEMAS / EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

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Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)

9%
0%
49%
N/A
N/A
9 %
Reviews Counted: 33 Fresh: 3  Rotten:30 Average Rating: 3/10
 
Consensus: A cynical political stunt in the guise of a documentary. Full of patronizing, poorly structured arguments, Expelled is a cynical political stunt in the guise of a documentary. more
 
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis:
Though Ben Stein is perhaps most famous for his sleep-inducing drone in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF or for his eponymous game show, he is also a highly regarded New York Times columnist and was a speechwriter for both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford during their presidencies. For EXPELLED: NO... [More]
Though Ben Stein is perhaps most famous for his sleep-inducing drone in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF or for his eponymous game show, he is also a highly regarded New York Times columnist and was a speechwriter for both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford during their presidencies. For EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED, he needs all his powers of persuasion as he calls attention to the plight of exiled scientists and professors. In this documentary, Stein travels the world and speaks to men and women who have lost their jobs and their standings in the scientific world because of their association with intelligent design. EXPELLED uses the Berlin Wall as a metaphor and asserts that these people have been unjustly ousted, merely for speaking their minds. It carefully explains the differences between creationism and intelligent design and demonstrates that the latter is a belief held by people of all deity-based faiths, not just Christianity. It also devotes time to the connections between Darwinism and Hitler's regime. The film's climax features Stein going head-to-head with Richard Dawkins, a renowned atheist and author of the bestseller THE GOD DELUSION. Obviously, neither man budges in his firmly held beliefs, but it's fascinating to watch a debate between two undeniably intelligent men, regardless of whose side you're on. EXPELLED doesn't spend most of its time debating intelligent design and evolution. Instead it focuses largely on how the debate itself and its proponents have been ignored or pushed out of classrooms and academia. Filmmaker Nathan Frankowski inserts both original animations and clips of famous films (including PLANET OF THE APES and THE WIZARD OF OZ) to further illustrate his point. Though critics may find fault with EXPELLED for its one-sidedness, it's no more biased than any of Michael Moore's critically lauded documentaries. [Less]

Genre: Education/General Interest

Starring: Ben Stein

Director: Nathan Frankowski
Screenwriter: Walt Ruloff
Producer: John Sullivan
Composer: Andy Hunter, Robbie Bronnimann

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The movie is unpersuasive, but it's amusing...

Full Review | Comment
04/28/08 11:03 AM
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
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Embracing evolutionary theory will turn you into a close-minded, God-denying Nazi -- that's the upshot of this ludicrous propaganda piece.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 01:21 PM
Reece Pendleton
Chicago Reader
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Might there be a way to get to God through science? It's a fascinating notion and I wish the slickly produced Expelled investigated it more thoroughly.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 01:19 PM
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
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Expelled is a classic bait-and-switch, presenting itself as a plea for freedom in the scientific marketplace of ideas, while actually delivering a grossly unfair, contradictory, and ultimately repugnant attack on Darwinists.

Full Review | Comment
04/24/08 01:08 PM
Steven Hyden
Onion AV Club
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Regardless of your personal views, Expelled's heavy-handed bias (a visit to Darwin's home gets the same eerie music as a tour of Dachau) is exasperating.

Full Review | Comment
04/24/08 11:06 AM
Adam Markovitz
Entertainment Weekly
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Junk science meets even junkier filmmaking in Expelled -- a no more shameless, stupid and loathsome piece of propaganda has ever skulked its way into the theater.

Full Review | Comment
04/22/08 11:39 PM
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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works in much the same way as a Michael Moore documentary -- a raft of provocation and very little persuasion

Full Review | Comment
04/22/08 08:05 PM
Matt McKillop
Filmcritic.com
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I don't say the film is crap because I disagree with it. I say it's crap because it disagrees with itself. It teems with contradictions, false dichotomies, and specious reasoning.

Full Review | Comment
04/21/08 08:57 PM
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com
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Manages to be flippant and darkly provocative at once.

Full Review | Comment
04/21/08 10:59 AM
Rex Roberts
Film Journal International
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This documentary purporting to examine the issue of freedom of expression in the debate between the competing arguments of 'intelligent design' and Darwinism squanders the potential fascination of its topic with its simplistic, heavy-handed approach.

Full Review | Comment
04/21/08 03:15 AM
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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The prospect of a pro-Intelligent Design documentary sounded so batsh** crazy,it had to be awesome, watching intellectuals spin a story about how they're persecuted for their beliefs.Not to say I didn't give it a fair chance,but they made it really easy.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 10:45 PM
Fred Topel
Can Magazine
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The film shows that Intelligent Design should be on the table for discussion. But if you're looking for ammo to argue your Darwinist friends under the table, look elsewhere.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 02:04 PM
Mark Moring
Christianity Today
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Surely the film's greatest offense is the utter shamelessness with which it exploits the Holocaust.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 12:25 PM
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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This is propaganda, a political rant disguised as a serious commentary on stifled freedom of inquiry.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 12:22 PM
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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It shows us bogus security files, as if some cabal is spying on everyone. It shirks the facts. And it madly edits images to equate Darwin with Hitler, and Ben Stein with -- yes -- Ronald Reagan. Typical of all propaganda, it also distorts language.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 12:17 PM
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
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Stein's schlumpy presence is disarming, though his know-it-all nature is at odds with his free-speech posing.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 12:14 PM
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News
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Stein's credibility is blown on this poorly constructed diatribe, and you'd be smart to save your bucks.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 12:12 PM
Matt Stephens
E! Online
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Expelled may prove to be as controversial as the producers hope, but the reactions will be more entertaining and elucidating than the film itself.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 11:57 AM
John P. McCarthy
Boxoffice Magazine
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"...raises some interesting questions about evolutionary theory, but does so in such a smug, disingenuous and self-serving manner it's hard to take the movie seriously.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 11:33 AM
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
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Either the filmmakers suckered these [pro-Darwinist] participants under false pretenses, or the evolutionists are more open to debate than Stein suggests.

Full Review | Comment
04/18/08 09:29 AM
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
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