Lukewarm review of Expelled in Variety

So far most of the reviews that have popped up about Expelled have been negative, and the creators of the film have increasingly come under fire for plagiarizing cgi-reconstructions of the cell from two sources (even though the company that produced the film has now filed suit, claiming that the accusations are egregious and just part of the "Darwinist machine" trying to keep them down.). A review of the film by Justin Chang on the Variety webpage, however, is more sympathetic;

There's an intelligent case to be made for intelligent design, which is why "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," a flimsy attempt to discredit Darwinist theory as the cornerstone of modern biology, reps such a missed opportunity.

Chang isn't quite sure what to make of Expelled, though. He believes that intelligent design has a lot going for it (although, in truth, it is nothing more than repackaged creationism), but he feels that Expelled is poorly executed and does little more than listen to the sordid tales of the "Expelled." The claims of the victims of "Big Science" are overblown and pale in comparison to what has happened to some people who have taught evolution in states where fundamentalist fervor runs high, but the film isn't meant to be intellectually convincing. Scientific evidence never really comes into the picture at all, and the main thrust of the film is that the evil "Darwinist" establishment is threatening the freedom of Christians. This sentiment alone might lure people into believing the lies promulgated in the film, but I hope that the people who do see it won't simply swallow what is being peddled by Stein & co.

Back to Chang's review; the article is poorly written (the constant use of "Pic" makes me think that it was sent via telegram) and the author doesn't appear to have much understanding of science. Still, he somewhat stumbles on to the truth of the situation near the end of the review (despite the inaccuracies within the quote);

But it's easier to critique evolution (oddly, the gaps in the fossil record, which even biologists concede, are never addressed) than to mount evidence for intelligent design, and the filmmakers' failure to offer even a working definition of the term leaves them open to the common charge that it's all unprovable, faith-based pseudo-science.

Indeed, Justin, "faith-based pseudo-science" is all intelligent design really is. Scientists have been asking for evidence of an intelligent designer for years, charging advocates of ID to meet them on the scientific playing field. The creationists have responded by publishing popular books, advising school boards where intelligent design might have a chance of making it into the classroom, and generally trying to get intelligent design established without actually doing the work to prove their claims. Expelled would argue that the creationists have never had a chance to prove themselves because they've been rooted out before they could become established, but as is documented at Expelled Exposed, things are not as simple as Ben Stein says they are.