Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)

Director:

Nathan Frankowski

Writers (WGA):

Kevin Miller (written by) and
Ben Stein (written by)

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Big science has expelled smart new ideas from the classroom...What they forgot is that every generation has its Rebel!

Plot:

Ben Stein examines the issue of academic freedom and decides that there is none when it comes to the debate over intelligent design.

Plot Keywords:

Darwinism | Intelligent Design | Academic Freedom | Freedom | Eugenics

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Ben Stein	...	Himself - Host
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lili Asvar	...	Sara
Peter Atkins	...	Himself
Hector Avalos	...	Himself
Doug Axe	...	Himself
Adam Behr	...	Animation Voices (voice)
David Berlinski	...	Himself
Walter Bradley	...	Himself
Bruce Chapman	...	Himself
Antonio Christina	...	Student
Anderson Cooper	...	Himself (archive footage)
Caroline Crocker	...	Herself
Richard Dawkins	...	Himself
William Dembski	...	Himself (as William Albert Dembski)
Daniel C. Dennett	...	Himself (as Daniel Dennett)
Michael Egnor	...	Himself
Steve Fuller	...	Himself
Uta George	...	Herself
Marciej Giertych	...	Himself
Guillermo Gonzalez	...	Himself
John Hauptman	...	Himself
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Benjamin Kelley	...	Himself (as Ben Kelley)
John Lennox	...	Himself
Robert J. Marks II	...	Himself
Alister McGrath	...	Himself
Stephen C. Meyer	...	Himself
Paul Zachary Myers	...	Himself (as P. Z. Myers)
Paul Nelson	...	Himself
John Polkinghorne	...	Himself
William Provine	...	Himself (as Will Provine)
Laura Ruloff	...	(voice)
Walt Ruloff	...	(voice)
Michael Ruse	...	Himself
Margaret Sanger	...	Herself (archive footage)
Gerald Schroeder	...	Himself
Jeffrey Schwartz	...	Himself
Eugenie C. Scott	...	Herself (as Eugenie Scott)
Michael Shermer	...	Himself
Mark Souder	...	Himself
Richard Sternberg	...	Himself
Deano Sutter	...	Himself - Introductory Speaker
Witold 'Vic' Walczak	...	Himself (archive footage)
Daniel Walsch	...	Himself
Richard Weikart	...	Himself
Jonathan Wells	...	Himself
Pamela Winnick	...	Herself
Larry Witham	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Crossroads (USA) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking.

Runtime:

USA:90 min | Germany:97 min (European Film Market)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA

Company:

Premise Media Corporation

Trivia:

The film sets up the lecture scene as if it were an actual university lecture. While filmed at Pepperdine University, the auditorium had been rented by the producers and the lecture was not an officially sanctioned event. Pepperdine officials confirmed that the audience was made up of paid extras with only "two or three" actual students attending. Pepperdine administration claims that their student body, while overwhelmingly Christian (Pepperdine is a private Christian college), accepts evolution and does not accept the concept of Intelligent Design. Ironically, Michael Shermer, one of the "Big Science" interviewees in the movie, is a Pepperdine graduate.

Quotes:

William Provine: No gods, no life after death, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no alternate meaning in life, and no human free will... are all deeply connected to an evolutionary perspective.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jimmy Kimmel Live!: (2008-02-15)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Spirit in the Sky

Lying For God

POSSIBLE SPOILERS: This film for me sums up the mentality of people like Ben Stein and the Christian Right: The Ends Justify The Means. Which is ironic, considering they have the nerve to show evolutionists intercut with Nazi death camps! Dishonesty, half-hidden false accusations, unfair comparisons, it's all fair game to the Christian filmmakers.

If there is someone who is more grating or unctuous in his insincere sincerity than Ben Stein, I don't know who it is. The only way I could watch this movie is to watch it as a comedy. Otherwise, if you are given to occasional rational thought, it will make your head explode. It expects you to take faith-based attacks against rationality as rational thinking. Its cartoon of how a cell works reveals more about the mentality of the filmmakers than I think they are aware.

The funniest thing about this film is its rating, which presently is 3.8. I went to the "loved it" section to see who rated it highly. Not surprisingly, it was given ten stars by a number of people whose reviews were suspiciously similar. Hmm... They wouldn't be doing something dishonest to help the cause of religion (I mean, Intelligent Design), would they? Without all of these attempts to jack up the rating for this film, it might actually reach the number 1 bottom position, beating out Battlefield Earth, Santa With Muscles, and Manos: The Hands of Fate.

They didn't help the cause of religion (at least as a positive force), and they certainly didn't help the cause of any benevolent God, with this "documentary".