Expelled - Movie Review

Expelled is a documentary film, hosted by Ben Stein. It deals with the showdown between Intelligent Design proponents and Darwinian Evolutionists.

The premise is that the evolutionists control the academy and are driving the I.D. folks out. The film opens with several case studies of academics who were fired because of their I.D. leanings.

Stein then goes on to investigate why this is so. He interviews evolutionists and does research to try to figure out what is happening. Basically, the party line is to believe evolution and disallow any investigation into the I.D. hypothesis.

The film is extremely well done, following in the documentary model pioneered by Michael Moore: a funny narrator guide, use of black and white archival footage, animated comic relief and an excellent use of music.

The film opened in the States with quite a lot of media coverage. Stein made the usual late night rounds promoting the film. And... it opened to scathing reviews - a paltry 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. (This is in the general vicinity of such gems as Made of Honor and the Love Guru).

Now, I like to think of myself as a rather thoughtful and perceptive movie watcher and reviewer. And.... I thought this film was fantastic. I can only conclude that the other reviewers were offended by the conclusion and world-view that the film presents. But, as a a piece of work, I could not find any fault in it.

The only criticism I would have, is that we are dealing with HUGE issues here - the origin of life!!!! Pretty hard to whittle down these concepts into a 90 minute piece of celluloid.

Confession - My friend produced this film. I have known about the film for years as it was being made. I met my friend, the day after he met with Ben Stein at the 4 Seasons in Seattle to lock him in for the film. Also, I know 4 other people that worked on the film. I have to tell you, it was really something to see my friend - PEOPLE I KNOW - to see their names up on the big screen in both the opening and closing credits.

Despite this personal connection to the film, I tried to enter the theater as unbiased as possible. In fact, due to the large amount of bad reviews, I was expecting to be disappointed. But... the movie was excellent and I highly recommend it. I don't expect it to be in theaters much longer, so make sure to pick up the DVD. I plan on buying a copy to watch with friends.