Sunday, July 6, 2008

No Intelligence....Period.


Congratulations to Ben Stein on his fraudumentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"! It managed to garner a full 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.
Here's a sampling of the rave reviews that have been pouring in:

The movie itself is an example of design by faith and emotion rather than intelligence, defined as rationality grounded in proof. -The Chicago Sun-Times

One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry. -The New York Times

For a film about American freedom of expression and the necessity for open dialogue, it's hard to imagine Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed being more one-sided, narrow-minded, and intellectually dishonest. -Slant Magazine

This film is an appallingly unscrupulous example of hack propaganda and it sucketh mightily. What's more, I didn't laugh once. -The Globe & Mail

If someone believes in the Tooth Fairy, can they complain about not being taken seriously at dental school? -Jam!Movies

Oh SNAP!! Way to go Ben! Reviews like that have helped propel this piece of shit insightful little film past previous Academy giants like Christmas with the Kranks. Stein still has a ways to go , however, if he wants to get the kind of critical acclaim afforded to masterpieces such as Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, which pulled off an impressive 11% on the Tomatometer, or Tom Arnold's laugh-fest The Stupids, which earned a remarkable 23% rating.

Dare to dream, Ben!


UPDATE: By way of commenter Bruce and our friend Red Tory, some hilarious opening weekend numbers.

16 comments:

Beijing York said...

Check it out, Dr? Charles McVety was pimping this film on Parliament Hill:

http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/06/11/the-opposite-of-ypf/

I couldn't believe that CBC Radio interviewed Canadian producer Walt Ruloff about this documentary without once mentioning that the film was propaganda for promoting "intelligent design". This was well before the film became associated with Ben Stein. Early days I guess since the interview was about what academics get funding as opposed to others.

Carl Baydala said...

Haven't seen the movie (documentary?), but by all accounts, its aim is to add legitimacy to the notion of design of the universe by God. The religionists were kicked out of the schools for good reason; they are menace to learning and intellectual independence. We have enough indoctrination and false teachings in our culture without adding yet another means by which to enslave and make ignorant our population. Long live the separation of church and state! And, have nice day.

Red Canuck said...

BY - McVety is as much a doctor as a Hyundai is a Lexus. Red Tory had a good post about McVety's dubious credentials a while back. It's not surprising that an ideologue like him would be touting this crappy movie. "Intelligent design" is as fraudulent as McVety's own resume.

Red Canuck said...

CB - Part of Stein's aim was to illustrate that creationists are being "shut out" of the scientific debate, which is of course a steaming pile of horseshit. Creationism by any other name is still creationism. And it has no place in a scientific community that is guided by the principles of rational, reproducible empiric evidence-gathering, not blind faith. There is no debate between reality and fantasy.

Anonymous said...

I hear they managed to rake in a whopping $27,000 in the first weekend nation-wide. Way to go Ben, you silly old fart.

MD said...

The IMDB entry for that movie has an interesting story in the "articles" section. Apparently Richard Roeper was accused of liberal bias for not reviewing the movie. He claimed it was never screened for him, but he then saw it anyways given the controversy. His conclusion? "What a piece of garbage." A pretty universal reaction it seems.

MD said...

BTW, your tomatometer comparisons are hilarious. Expelled is presently below Ishtar, which was widely considered to be the nadir of filmaking when I was growing up. Perhaps we are witnessing a new historic low. I am tempted to see this movie out of morbid curiosity, but I cannot stomach the idea of helping to fund these paranoid creationist quacks.

Red Canuck said...

Bruce - $27,000?? Bwahahahaha!! It's great that the product of an unabashed Nixonian free-market capitalist should fail so miserably in said free-market. Of course, he'll probably blame the vast left-wing conspiracy or something like that...

Red Canuck said...

MD - I am tempted to see this movie out of morbid curiosity, but I cannot stomach the idea of helping to fund these paranoid creationist quacks.

Have no fear. This film is such a hacktacular piece of shit that it will undoubtedly be on video in a matter of days.

Of course, you could always torrent it if you could bear to have such filth on your hard drive.

Anonymous said...

Oops! I was wrong, $24,374.00. I stand corrected ;)

http://www.tribute.ca/movies/boxoffice.asp

Red Tory said...

Enjoy!

Oh, and feel free to use the graphic from here if you want

More on the boffo box office receipts here.

Red Canuck said...

RT - Thanks! I'd missed your posts on this subject, but will update with a link.

RuralSandi said...

Hey, careful what you say here - there is a tooth fairy. My girlfriend's dentist is gay and he calls himself the tooth fairy - so there really is one.

LOL

Bowler said...

Heh! Stein was funny in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but that was long before he went Full Metal Wingnut. I guess he was always a conservative, but at least he was funny. Like Dennis Miller, he's been most unfunny over the last 5 years or so.

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