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

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Jan. 4	10:00 AM	SHOW
Sat. Jan. 9	8:45 AM	SHOW

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) | Australia:PG

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: What other societies have used Darwinism to trump all other authorities, including religion? As a Jew, my mind left to one regime in particular.

Movie Connections:

Features "The O'Reilly Factor" (1996)

Soundtrack:

All Alone

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".