Sporadically funny but tepidly unoriginal "Discoverers"
If you've seen the sharp 2006 film "Little Miss Sunshine," then you've essentially seen the dark independent new comedy "The Discoverers" about a family who hits the road to discover, or re-discover the meaning of life. Washed-up history professor Lewis Birch (Griffin Dunne) takes his begrudging teenage kids - Zoe (Madeleine Martin, "Californication") and Jack ("American Horror Stories") - on a road trip to a conference in hopes of putting his career back on track. But, when Lewis's estranged father Stanley (Stuart Margolin) goes AWOL on a Lewis and Clark historical reenactment trek, Lewis is forced to make a family detour. The Birch family find themselves on a journey of discovery and connection as they make their own passage west. Directed by Justin Schwarz, there are a handful of darkly sweet, compelling moments, but it meanders too much and the characters aren't fully realized, even though it's grounded well by a haggard but charming Griffin Dunne, who looks far different than his "An American Werewolf in London" and "After Hours" days of the 1980s. The middle act in particular is problematic and the ending too predictable, but "The Discoverers" is peppered with a few fun moments, including the always amusing Margolin, in an odd role as the aged father who loses it. The tepid "The Discoverers" doesn't really discover anything new, and it's hardly revelatory, though some may have fun with it. There's just many other films that have done it better.
Wes's Grade: C
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