It would be easy to dismiss “What the #$*! Do We Know?” as freshman yoga #$*!. After all, one of the ‘‘expert’’ scholars profiled by the filmmakers is a middle-aged American woman who claims to be inhabited by the disembodied spirit of a 35,000-year-old African shaman named Ramtha. Hey, no credibility gap there.
Yet, to summarily reject this kooky cocktail of pseudo-science and positive-minded self-empowerment drama would be an act of unforgivable laziness. There are ideas here that electrify the imagination, groovy revelations that deserve consideration.

It does, at times, feel like a New Age infomercial, down to the underemployed celebrity endorser (hearing-impaired Oscar winner Marlee Matlin) and chintzy special effects. Basically, it’s a movie on two fronts. On one hand, the filmmakers (William Arntz, Betsy Chase and Mark Vincente) have assembled a motley panel of mystics, philosophers and scholars to hold forth on quantum physics, the controversial field of sub-molecular study that encompasses alternate universes, hologram consciousness and other stuff you’ve seen on ‘‘Star Trek.’’ Simultaneously, there’s the dramatized story of Amanda (Matlin), a bitter, betrayed photographer whose trials and disappointments help illustrate the heady concepts voiced by the interviewees.

Compellingly, the filmmakers portray quantum physics as a missing link of sorts between science and spirituality. We learn that solid objects aren’t really solid, that observation influences outcome and that positive thinking has a real and scientifically verifiable effect on ourselves and those around us.

Currently on a limited barnstorming tour of movie theaters across the country, ‘‘What the #$*! Do We Know?’’ brings to mind such expansive philosophical offerings as Richard Linklater's ‘‘Waking Life’’ (2001) and Berndt Capra's ‘‘Mindwalk’’ (1991) with inferior wordplay and overall artistry. As such, it seems unlikely that the movie will spark a firestorm of revolutionary thought (as the filmmakers seem to anticipate), but it could be a sign of better things to come.