Review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) by Stephen M — 09 Jun 2010

Personally, I feel Ben Stein's Expelled is a pretty good doc if you look at it "objectively." The interview pieces are direct and he gives you a peek ahead of time what his objective for the piece is going to be. The examples and illustrations are excellent and give a symbolic look at the various stances he takes. Stein staring down the bust of Darwin was contrived, over-the-top, and pretentious, but that's my only complaint. I'm sure someone could point out some slanted stats or w/e, but the film makes it's point.

Like Ebes says, it's not what a film is about, but how it is about it. I'm betting Ebert didn't follow his own criticism law (no, I"m not looking up his review).

However, since the subject matter is such a lightning rod, few would give it the time of day who vehemently disagreed with the stance at the start of the film. Thus you won't see it receiving any doc awards or nominations.