It may well be; Roger Ebert has finally gotten around to reviewing Expelled! Short version: He didn't like it.
Long version: He really, really didn't like it.
I knew there was a reason I liked Roger Ebert.
More like this
Film critic Roger Ebert has been fighting cancer, but he's getting back to work:
From the archives comes this post about movie critic Roger Ebert and the email he sent me.
Roger Ebert has revealed the purpose behind the peculiar creationist Q&A he posted the other day.
As are we all, of course, but Ebert is setting an example for us all.
Ebert is dying in increments, and he is aware of it.
While it's a fun read, and I of course agree with the overall result that Expelled is schmutz, the underlying point is a bit hypocritical. Basically, Ebert admits Stein is doing everything Michael Moore has done for years in his "documentaries", and he's doing it well. But since he's doing it in a what Ebert considers dishonest fashion and on a subject Stein is wrong about, it's a bad movie. What makes it more a review about "the truth behind" the movie than a review of the movie itself.
I don't think it's actually a review. He says, "I've been accused of refusing to review Ben Stein's documentary "Expelled," a defense of Creationism, because of my belief in the theory of evolution. Here is my response."
So he still hasn't reviewed the movie, he's just responded to the accusation about why that is.
Reed: look again. After some preamble, he discusses the expelled extensively, demolishing every facet of the movie. It's not enough for Ebert to say "the movie sucked",he explains why it sucked, drawing on his extensive knowledge of movies and his personal experiences.
Reed: Did you read the rest of the review? He actually reviews the movie. It may be in response to accusations, but he still reviewed the movie.