Review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) by Janelle A — 01 Dec 2008

I didn't have expectations for this movie but was still disappointed. Here was an opportunity to intelligently discuss and organize the arguments surrounding evolution and creationism and Ben Stein attacks the academic left, drawing comparisons about Nazis, Stalinists, the eugenics movement to pro-choicers and liberal professors. He also shamelessly uses his Jewish heritage as a vessel to get truly outraged about Darwinists.

One of the main arguments in the film, according to Intelligent Design (ID) professors he interviewed, is that evolution is a complex theory that contains many theories within it and that is open to discussion and criticism. He argues that academics who explore the possibilities of ID aren't given a fair chance and are reduced to being called religious fanatics or just labelled as "creationists." Stein then turns around and promptly reduces all Darwinists to being social Darwinists of the most vile degree who helped inspire everything from eugenics to concentration camps. He stresses this point through a ten-minute tangential tour through a concentration camp.

I will applaud Stein for taking on the Grand Imperial Wizard of evolution radicals, Mr.Richard Dawkins, because he's well-known, well-spoken, and has expressed his argument clearly in books and articles. Dawkins seems endlessly impatient with Stein as he tries to rather obtusely catch Dawkins into saying in a roundabout way that Intelligent Design is possible. Of course Dawkins's whole point is that anything is possible and we don't know for sure if an intelligent being created life.

Stein also corners several of the bad guys--left-wing Darwinists--into positing different theories as to how life started, including cellular evolution through crystals, or the Big Bang. After the man explains this, the movie cuts to a scene of a fortune teller from some old-timey movie saying "give me my crystals," to which Stein cattily narrates, "Crystals? I thought we were supposed to be talking about science here.".

The whole thing becomes pretty infuriating by the end, as Stein feigns outrage and.