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Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 13 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 193 Ratings

  • Summary: Ben Stein travels the world on his quest and learns an awe-inspiring truth that bewilders him, then angers him, and then spurs him to action! His heroic and at times shocking journey confronting the world's top scientists, educators, and philosophers underscores the persecution of the many by an elite few regarding the rejection of Darwinism. Ben realizes that he has been "expelled," and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure, and even fired--for the "crime" of merely believing that there might be evidence of "design" in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance. (Rocky Mountain Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 13
  2. Negative: 11 out of 13
  1. 50
    It puts a conservative twist on Michael Moore-ism, with campy stock footage, deadpan humor, mocking musical cues and less-than-ingenuous questions.
  2. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    38
    While he gets points for addressing the debate, the way in which Stein goes about it undermines his efforts to be even-handed and intellectually rigorous.
  3. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    38
    It's hard to pinpoint what's most insulting about this obvious propaganda piece.
  4. Managing to make the films of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock look like dry, scholarly treatises by comparison, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed more than lives up to its subtitle.

See all 13 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 124
  2. Negative: 76 out of 124
  1. JimP.
    10
    The fact that this got such low ratings from the "critics" proves the point of the movie. This documentary succeeds in being entertaining, it is well produced, and it asks a number of thought provoking questions. For anyone that loves to think, there is absolutely zero reason to give it a negative rating, UNLESS you are closed minded and see this as some sort of threat to the religion of Darwinian evolution. The bottom line is that discussion has always brought humans to a higher understanding of issues. In the past it was sometimes the church vs science, today it appears that science has become a religion and it is just as filled with propaganda and attempts to silence opposition as any cult. Darwinian evolution has some serious flaws. It doesn't mean that it doesn't have some things right, but just as our understanding of physics has changed drastically over the years from newton, to einstein, to Planck, to string theory it has evolved with the times. Darwinism has not, and we owe it to ourselves to have an open discussion. Slamming and crushing dissent doesn't help anyone, and those who aid and abet in this do a disservice to our quest for knowledge. This isn't about religion, this is about real questions that aren't being answered because there are those in the debate that WON'T Debate. Expand
  2. DavidF.
    8
    Naturally, reviews for this film break along political lines, so all the mainstream critics hate it, along with several readers who wouldn�39;t be caught dead seeing the film, but give it a zero nonetheless. This was a good documentary, and while slightly overreaching, exposes the hypocrisy of the "evolution only" pundits, who would rather believe we're decended from mystic crystals (yes, they said that) than any outside intelligence. Expand
  3. WilliamB.
    7
    Not as bad as everyone says. The point of the movie is conveyed clearly. You might not jump out of your seat but it is worth a watch.
  4. Despite your religious or social beliefs this is a horrible documentary. The first half of the movie is a failure because intelligent design theories SIMPLY CANNOT BE EQUATED TO SCIENTIFIC ONES; They're not science. The second half is an academic embarrassment because it's blatant rhetoric without substance. I gave it a 1 because I enjoyed hating it. Expand

See all 124 User Reviews