Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, 3/5

A Rough Cut's first exclusive, pre-release movie review!

Rated PG. Click here to view the trailer. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed opens nationwide April 18.

I tried not to be star-struck, but it was hard not to watch Ben Stein watching himself during the pre-release screening of his new documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. I sat behind Missouri’s first lady, with the governor to her right and Ben (he and I are on a first name basis now) sitting next to him. I could hear him chuckle at his own one-liners and listened intently has he pointed out the nuances of several scenes to governor. At one point, he pulled out a telescoping back scratcher and took care of an itch. That's not really germane to the movie review, but the kind of fact that just needs sharing.

Stein’s incredibly dull and (yet infinitely Jewy and entertaining) monotone droll narrates the documentary, in which he explores the death grip Darwinian evolution has on the scientific intelligista. It’s certainly not a Christian movie and it doesn’t argue that the Judeo-Christian God created the earth in six days then rested on the seventh. It does however make the Christian (or Darwin doubter) feel much more confident in the scientific foundation of Intelligent Design (the idea that life is so complex, it is impossible that it occurred randomly and is best explained by an intelligent Creator).

Heck, why not let Ben speak for himself:

We began working on this movie because were concerned that Darwinism – which is a beyond-words brilliant theory – was being taught as the only scientific explanation for creation, for development of life, for the development from inorganic to organic matter, even into astronomy, physics and thermodynamics. We have been very troubled by this strangle hold Darwinism has on academic pursuits and by the fact that if you raise the slightest question about Darwinism, you can get fired, lose you job, grants and website. This didn’t seem to us to be constant with the doctrines of free speech and freedom of inquiry that are basic to the functioning of the United States of America. So many people did not give their lives so that one certain dogma could have a stranglehold on academic pursuits while everything else was expelled.

Stein is just about the perfect person to star in a movie like this. He’s funny (see his work in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the Clear Eyes commercials), he’s smart (Win Ben Stein’s Money, he taught law at Pepperdine University) and he’s a conservative (he’s a former Nixon speech writer). Most of all he’s likable and he doesn’t attack the Darwinian scientists he interviews, nor does he suck up to the ID proponents.

Stein uses a motif of the Berlin Wall throughout the movie to illustrate that Darwinian scientists have walled themselves in, refusing to hear any alternatives to their god, evolution. In fact, the movie suggests Darwinism is their religion even as it suggests Intelligent Design is in fact a science.

As a junior at a conservative Christian liberal arts university, one of my required courses focused largely on ID. Even though I whole heartedly agree with it’s premise, I must admit I found it to be scientifically lacking and unconvincing to those who didn’t already have religious faith as background (although I did think secular professors should emphasize that evolution is just a theory). The highest praise I can give Expelled is that it convinced me otherwise. I am now thoroughly convinced ID is legitimate science and am excited with the research possibilities it holds.

Expelled is the anti-Inherit the Wind - it’s not fictional and it’s intentionally funny - and Ben Stein the anti-Michael Moore - he’s not over bearing, not overweight and fully believes in your right to disagree with him (although like Moore, no one would dare call Stein a fashion trend setter). It's good movie and I recommend it heartily, but it is still a documentary.

However, Stein does hope to set a trend in preserving academic inquiry. It sounds a little melodramatic, but refusing to hear opposing idea can lead to some pretty dire consequences. As Stein asks at the close of the movie: “Freedom of inquiry is the kind of freedom that makes this country great. Is anyone left to fight this battle? Anyone? Anyone?”