In our first installment of ‘Worth it?’ We take a look at 2014 Indy film The Discoverers and help you decide whether or not it’s worth checking out. The movie stars Griffin Dunne (American Werewolf in London, After Hours) as the cliché aging divorced dad of two whose life has hit the skids. In this case he’s a washed up college professor stuck teaching at an unaccredited community college in Chicago. He hopes to get his life on track by pitching a new book at the annual academic conference he attends every year with his children in Oregon but is waylaid when his big shot brother (John C. McGinley of Scrubs fame) asks him to check in on their parents.
He arrives to find his mother has died and his father has retreated into a dissociative state embracing the identity of Captain Clark of Lewis and Clarke fame. It is here we reach the central conceit of the movie. In order to help his father grieve and return to his normal self, Dunne and his two children must participate in the annual gathering of The Discoverers, a group of people dedicated to accurately recreating the journey of Lewis and Clarke. Meaning amongst other things period clothing and no technology. Eventually Dunne connects with his kids while reconnecting his father to reality with the help of random blonde love interest. And everyone has a minor epiphany about finding their own way in life. Roll Credits.
The fact is that I was really disappointed by this film. I saw the trailer a while back and put this on my IMDB Watchlist and looked forward to it coming to Netflix. I don’t know why I waited I could have popped in any generic burnt out dad remembers what’s important while resolving his daddy issues low burn Indy dramedy and gotten the same result. This is no fault of the actors involved all of whom, while not exactly A-listers, have a solid filmography to point to.
No the problems here must be laid at the feet of an unambitious script and a first time director who couldn’t find a way to make it work. It’s one thing to have a feel-good movie that telegraphs where its going. It’s an entirely different thing to criminally under-use a cast that’s trying to do the best they can with horribly static characters that include a son who just wants to smoke pot and make out with girls but oh wait he can draw pretty things so he’ll be okay and a random blonde love interest who holds hands with our main character at the end of the movie for no real discernable reason other than she’s supposed to because that’s his reward for starting to get his shit together.
The one saving grace of this film is the relationship between Dunne and his daughter played by Madeleine Martin (Californication). Their scenes together had some real resonance although even this faded by the end of the film.
Overall I wish I was even a little on the fence about this one as I came in with such high hopes but I have to say “The Discoverers” definitely not worth it.