Krippendorf's Tribe

1998 "He's discovered the wildest tribe in his own backyard!"
5.1| 1h34m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 27 February 1998 Released
Producted By: Touchstone Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

After squandering his grant money, despondent and recently widowed anthropologist James Krippendorf must produce hard evidence of the existence of a heretofore undiscovered New Guinea tribe. Grass skirts, makeup, and staged rituals transform his three troubled children into the Shelmikedmu, a primitive culture whose habits enthrall scholars. But when a spiteful rival threatens to blow the whistle on Krippendorf's ruse, he gets into the act as well.

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Reviews

CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
ninjaalexs Krippendorf's Tribe came out at a time when Hollywood had an obsession with jungles and tribe's people. Look at some of the films of the 90s: Jumanji, The Jungle book (live action), Jungle 2 Jungle, The Wild Thornberrys.Krippendorf's Tribe is a fairly silly knockabout comedy. To be honest it's pretty much done by numbers and predictable. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same fate a lot of comedies suffer from too much sexual humour to make it suitable for anyone younger than a teenage audience and it lacks the depth that adults want from films.Dreyfuss puts in a great performance as always and is convincing as the professor out of his depth. After Mr Holland's Opus you can see why many critics thought this film beneath him. Jenna Elfman is great alongside Dreyfuss and the two have chemistry. Much like Cameron Diaz in The Mask, she can do sexy as well as handle some of the more goofy farcical comedy.In recent years this film has been accused of being racist. While it is hard to deny that this film does stereotype tribes from Papua New Guinea, I don't think the film was intended to cause offence. The film is dated for a film from 1998 it feels like it could have been made 10 years earlier.While no masterpiece I found this film funny in places and entertaining throughout. With a less capable cast this film would have been an absolute stinker though. Look out for an early appearance from Mila Kunis as well.Worth a watch.
Predrag Great performances by Dreyfuss and Elfman make this movie work wonderfully and make you laugh so hard you think your going to cry. This film is put together in a way it's sure to make you laugh. Professor James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfess) is a Professor of anthropology and also a widower. Down in depression he ends up using the universities grant money for his own personal use. Faced with either confessing and going to jail, or going on with his fairy tale tribe. He chooses to go on with his made up tribe the Shelmikedmu. Using his own 3 kids and back yard for filming. He comes up with the most unique tribe ever seen before. Also with the help of his over anxious colleague Veronica Macelli (Jenna Elfman) who wont leave him alone. He ends up going deeper and deeper into his fairytale tribe, and trying to keep up with his lie. They end up taking the tribe national.Dreyfus handles the comedy with aplomb as he has done before, with the help of a supportive cast. It was nice to see Phil Leeds one last time in a couple of very brief appearances in a crowd scene. He was one of those talented character actors who always added that bit of spice to a production. This movie is very well put together, and just so ridiculous you got to laugh. In the end you will wish you were Shelmikedmu too. It's definitely worth seeing.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
tootsielover68 The plot of "Krippendorf's Tribe" is not entirely terrible. I would not mind seeing a movie about a college anthropology teacher who needs to find an African tribe but has blown all his money and then is forced to use the family as the tribe. The idea is funny and the movie itself had moments that were very entertaining and the movie is not boring at all. But there is a problem with this movie. The script is mildly funny, but the cast is totally in wrong parts that do not fit their talents. Dreyfuss in particular is good in serious roles which is where he succeeds best. "Jaws", "Always", and "Mr. Holland's Opus" are perfect examples of this theory. Now granted Dreyfuss has been good in a couple silly roles such as his parts in "American Graffiti" and "What About Bob?" But those films were written for a part that Dreyfuss can play. In both those films Dreyfuss is a comic figure but his mildly comic mostly serious personality works. All in all this silly role is wrong for him and I think this part would have been better possibly for either Bill Murray, Steve Martin or Chevy Chase. Those guys could play a part like this due to their silly personalities. As far as the rest of the film I found Jenna Elfman and Lily Tomlin to also be miscast. Elfman was very endearing on TV's "Darma and Greg", and Tomlin had wonderful supporting roles in "Nine to Five" and "All of Me". But how did Dreyfuss,Elfman and Tomlin think their talents would work in a script like this? It is not written poorly and its not the worst movie ever like some have claimed. As far as the writing and direction goes it is mediocre. But the casting is where this film fails because the actors that are cast are do too many sophisticated dramatic and comedic roles that they cannot afford to do something laid-back and silly like this. Its easy to see why the cast of this film (particularly Dreyfuss) have not had much activity in recent years. Might be worth the price of a Saturday night movie rental but you know the cast have been in better roles that fit them.
BLBfootballs This movie is achingly bad, and may well leave you thirsting for spiritual and cinematic salvation.It's tempting to blame the low quality on the abysmal acting, but the abysmal acting is surely the product of the even worse script. Saturated with one-liner duds, 10-liner clunkers and painfully feigned scenes, this movie could be usefully employed in screen writing schools as an example of what not to force your actors to try and portray on screen. I'm disappointed that Richard Dreyfus agreed to take this movie, though a senior academic role could have suited his acting abilities well. Instead he pumps a heinous "performance" as a simply execrable poseur (we're supposed to sympathize with this guy...right?)--the quality of whose character corresponds well to the cringe-inducing wretchedness of the writing. Every other character in this movie is a paint-by-numbers cardboard figurine. The audience suffers through a ride at least as irritating as the one endured by the (humorously-named?) professor's colleagues. Unfortunately the audience sees each rusty step approaching from miles away, preventing us from at least sharing in the colleagues' mild palliative of "surprise". As with many other bad movies this one was banking on a potentially humorous idea that, uh, doesn't quite work out. This movie is of the variation of bad that precludes even enjoying laughing at its radiant badness. Trust me, there will be no laughter. Every part of the movie, from the chokeworthy "jokes" to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones ska tracks suggests a kind of "ironic" self-referential "humor" that we're all (for some reason) supposed to be joining in on. Note to directors: next time please drop the "irony" and just aim for humor. Judging from this movie, that alone would be no small accomplishment! I almost can't believe this thing was released into theaters.If you paid money to see this in a theater or rent it on video...well I'm just sorry. I would expect to see this as a staple of UHF stations' low-powered weekend afternoon matinées for some years to come. But hopefully not for too long!