Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Co-written by and starring Ben Stein—the former Nixon speechwriter-cum-actor (the beleaguered teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and game-show host—this documentary about the debate between proponents of Darwinism and believers in theology-based “intelligent design” takes a dismayingly heavy-handed approach. Expelled argues that scientists and educators are being persecuted and in some cases fired for daring to challenge their respective institutions' belief in the long-held theory of evolution. Stein conducts interviews with various such figures and expounds upon the beginnings of life, while director Nathan Frankowski employs stock footage copiously and overdramatically, using iconic images of the Berlin Wall and Nikita Khrushchev's shoe-pounding antics to draw comparisons between Communist suppression of free speech and the current marginalization of intelligent-design advocates. One particularly ill-advised sequence attempts to link Darwinism and Nazism, complete with footage of a dour Stein touring the remnants of a Nazi concentration camp. Ultimately, this right-leaning effort that attempts to stylistically mirror the documentaries of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock is nothing more than disappointing propaganda. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include a three-minute “Practical Applications” clip, a special message from star Ben Stein (2 min.), a preview for the companion book, three bonus music tracks by composer Andy Hunter, and trailers. Bottom line: a promo-heavy extras package for a disingenuous documentary.] (E. Hulse)