Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

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:

Intelligent Design | Darwinism | Freedom | Academic Freedom | Abortion

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Ben Stein	...	Himself - Host
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lili Asvar	...	Student
Peter Atkins	...	Himself
Hector Avalos	...	Himself
Doug Axe	...	Himself
David Berlinski	...	Himself
Walter Bradley	...	Himself
Bruce Chapman	...	Himself
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:

Michael Shermer has described the rather odd circumstances of his interview for the movie "Crossroads" (Expelled's previous title) online and in Scientific American magazine. He was asked for his thoughts about firing people for working in intelligent design "a dozen times", but when he asked them for example scenarios and whether they had any other questions about the field, neither Stein nor Mathis was forthcoming. During a discussion about Darwin's links to economist Adam Smith, Stein had to leave and sit in the car outside for "twenty minutes", during which time Shermer joked with Mathis about what he could be doing in there. When he returned, some hand-held footage was shot, and Stein returned to the subject of firing people once more. Shermer describes the experience as "surreal".

Quotes:

Ben Stein: We are losing our freedom in one of the most important sectors of society: science. I have always assumed that scientists were free to ask any question, to pursue any line of inquiry, without fear of reprisal. But recently I've been alarmed to discover that this is not the case.

Movie Connections:

Features "Paula Zahn Now" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Spirit in the Sky

Okay Attempt - Still Propaganda

I will start by saying I am a devout Presbyterian, who is pursuing a call to the ministry. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that the God of the Old Testament is the creator of this world. With that being said, I thought this movie was okay, at best. For me personally, I cannot divorce science and religion, but I understand that some do. "Expelled" was not very gentle in its approach of what others believe. If you have ever heard of the "straw man" approach, then you know that this is what "Expelled" is. For those of you who don't know, a "straw man" is taking the weakest argument possible and just beating it up to make the one arguing look stupid. It is easy to shoot down another's arguments, but it takes real courage to take someone else's arguments and try to understand where they are coming from.

Short summary: "Expelled" is fairly entertaining but fails to take the subject of Intelligent Design seriously. Instead, it is an attempt to make the scientific community look foolish. Not very loving if you ask me.