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Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Rocky Mountain Pictures

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed reviews


3.6

based on 13 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 142 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking

Starring Ben Stein, and Jason Collett

Ben Stein travels the world on his quest and learns an awe-inspiring truth that bewilders him, then angers him, and then spurs him to action! His heroic and at times shocking journey confronting the world's top scientists, educators, and philosophers underscores the persecution of the many by an elite few regarding the rejection of Darwinism. Ben realizes that he has been "expelled," and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure, and even fired--for the "crime" of merely believing that there might be evidence of "design" in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance. (Rocky Mountain Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Kevin Miller Walt Ruloff Ben Stein
DIRECTED BY:	Nathan Frankowski
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 21, 2008 Theatrical: April 18, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Variety Justin Chang

While roving interviewer Ben Stein extracts some choice soundbites from scientists on both sides of the creation-vs.-evolution debate, the film's flippant approach undermines the seriousness of its discourse, trading less in facts than in emotional appeals.

New York Post Kyle Smith

It puts a conservative twist on Michael Moore-ism, with campy stock footage, deadpan humor, mocking musical cues and less-than-ingenuous questions.

USA Today Claudia Puig

While he gets points for addressing the debate, the way in which Stein goes about it undermines his efforts to be even-handed and intellectually rigorous.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It's hard to pinpoint what's most insulting about this obvious propaganda piece.

Village Voice Vadim Rizov

Bizarre and hysterical.

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Expelled is an unprincipled propaganda piece that insults believers and nonbelievers alike.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

As a work of nonfiction filmmaking it is a sham and as agitprop it is too flimsy to strike any serious blows.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Managing to make the films of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock look like dry, scholarly treatises by comparison, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed more than lives up to its subtitle.

Chicago Reader Reece Pendleton

A straightforward account of the debate between evolutionists and ID proponents might have been both entertaining and enlightening; instead this follows the avuncular Ben Stein (who cowrote the movie) as he jet-sets around the globe trying to prove that a cabal of Darwinians has conspired to destroy academic freedom.

Entertainment Weekly Adam Markovitz

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.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Stein's schlumpy presence is disarming, though his know-it-all nature is at odds with his free-speech posing.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Steven Hyden

Surely there's a more nuanced argument to be made in favor of ID than pinning the old "bad as Hitler" canard on pro-evolution scientists?

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Make Ben Stein some more money (and get a good, mordant chuckle while you're at it) by checking out this loopy, factually befuddled documentary that should manage the not-inconsiderable feat of insulting Christians, Jews, Muslims, and those nutty sci-guys who go in for Darwin by way of bad teeth and Einsteinian hair styles.

The average user rating for this movie is 3.6 (out of 10) based on 142 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Cal A. gave it a10:
Great movie...Amazing how angry and bitter the liberal media gets unless its Michael Moore spewing their views. Plain fact, this movie brings up the ONLY tolerance NOT allowed in this country anymore. You've got to see it to understand just the beginning of this problem. I'm a public school teacher and deal with this one-sided problem to often.

Steven C. gave it a1:
Ben's been a Nixon speech writer, eye drop pitchman, charactor actor and now a Creationists! How very amusing... the film , itself, lacks intelligent design.

Steve S. gave it a9:
To everyone who feels that "Expelled" was wrong in connecting Darwinism with the Holocaust, read Hitler's biography "Mein Kampf" - a book filled with evolutionary racism. Hitler was trying to hurry human evolution along to his so-called master race. And today's most outspoken evolutionist - Richard Dawkins (seen in the film "Expelled") - has said this regarding Hitler: “What’s to prevent us from saying Hitler wasn’t right? I mean, that is a genuinely difficult question." "Expelled" made some very good points. I just don't think it went far enough in exposing Darwinism and those who blindly follow it. If it were up to them, freedom of speech and thought would die in America.

David F. gave it an8:
Naturally, reviews for this film break along political lines, so all the mainstream critics hate it, along with several readers who wouldn't be caught dead seeing the film, but give it a zero nonetheless. This was a good documentary, and while slightly overreaching, exposes the hypocrisy of the "evolution only" pundits, who would rather believe we're decended from mystic crystals (yes, they said that) than any outside intelligence.

Jay H. gave it a4:
Well it sounded like it might be good, but I just didn't find it convincing at all. It wasn't well researched and it doesn't flow well. I generally love documentaries, but this one was boring.

Matt F. gave it a10:
The point was to show that anyone who wants to debate evolution is immediately muzzled. It made that point well. Why are evolutionists so afraid to debate?

Alex T. gave it a0:
I love the use of the term "liberal" to refer to anyone who takes umbrage with the anti-academic crusade of the Christian fundamentalists who made this schlock. If academic discourse, critical thought, and intellectual nuance are left wing, then you can start making my uniform for Team Liberal today.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed Rocky Mountain Pictures

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Rocky Mountain Pictures