On Screen: Expelled

EXPELLED | Ben Stein with ‘The God Delusion’ author Richard Dawkins

Ben Stein, the presidential speechwriter/economist/actor/game-show-host, is probably best known amongst my generation as the “Anyone? Anyone?” teacher from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” He’s back in the classroom, having spent much of his time lately talking about the debate (or lack thereof) in the academic world about Intelligent Design. His new movie, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” is a documentary which looks at how scientists who have discussed or written about Intelligent Design (and along the way hinted that there might be problems with Darwin’s theories of evolution) have been persecuted. 

The film opened Friday; we saw it Saturday. It’s very well-done and thought-provoking. I’ve been following the web buzz about the film for a few weeks and was anxious to see it. You can read Plugged In Online’s review here, or visit the film’s website here. There are a number of links from the latter to sites attempting to debunk Stein and the film, if you’re interested.

There was a decidedly small crowd at the 7:30 showing Saturday night in Sanford, and it got smaller throughout the film.  A teen-aged couple left about 10 minutes into the showing, and a family of four walked out about 15 minutes later. My guess is they saw the movie poster and assumed it was a Ben Stein comedy about classroom hijinx.

Comedy it’s not, but there’s plenty of hijinx perpetrated by the anti-ID crowd. “Expelled” is worth checking out, no matter where you fall in the evolution/creationism/ID debate.