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(About Our Ads) "EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED" (2008) (Documentary) (PG) If you've come from our parental review of this film and wish to return to it, simply click on your browser's BACK button. Otherwise, use the following link to read our complete Parental Review of this film. QUICK TAKE: Documentary: A look at whether academia and the scientific community are quelling those who question Darwinism in favor of Intelligent Design. PLOT: Actor Ben Stein investigates whether academia and the scientific community in general are systematically attempting to quell those who question Darwinism in favor of Intelligent Design. Interviewing people on both sides of the debate, Stein examines the various issues pertaining to both sets of theories. OUR TAKE: 4 out of 10 Our new reviewing policy for films that aren't shown in advance to critics is that we'll only provide a paragraph or two about the film's artistic merits or, more accurately, lack thereof. After all, life is too short to spend any more effort than that on a movie that even the releasing studio knows isn't any good (which is why they hid it from reviewers before its release). Following in the footsteps of Michael Moore - in terms of injecting attempted humor, often in the form of old, archival footage to drive home various points - director Nathan Frankowski seems to have ceded most control of this documentary to Ben "Bueller...Bueller...Bueller" Stein who does the Moore bit by having himself on camera a lot, often looking serious and posing as a fair and balanced interviewer. Like many a documentarian, however, Stein and company can't help but let their beliefs filter through into their coverage of the subject matter. Here, what starts out as a decent look at academics who've been fired due to their belief in or just mentioning of Intelligent Design eventually turns into a diatribe against Darwinian evolution, essentially saying its leads to atheism, abortion, euthanasia and Nazism (and may just do so again). While some of that is obviously true, such a blanket indictment means this film will only be preaching to the choir and won't stand a chance of converting or even just convincing those on the other side or who are straddling the fence to reexamine their thoughts and beliefs. While its big point is the attack on freedom of speech in science (a valid concern), it ends up pretty much - dare I say - evolving into exactly what it's trying to expose - a one-sided bit of propaganda regarding a hot potato subject. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" thus rates as just a 4 out of 10. Reviewed April 18, 2008 / Posted April 18, 2008