Krippendorf's Tribe
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Movie Reviews of Krippendorf's Tribe
Movie Review: Krippendorf's Funny!
Summary: 4 Stars
Professor Krippendorf got so caught up in being a parent after his wife passed away that he spent his anthropology grant money with nothing to show for it. In essence, he embezzled it. Having broken the law and ruined his career (if he gets found out), he decides that there's really no difference between a small fraud and a big one and so he goes ahead to invent a giant hoax. The popularity of the bizarre tribe he invents is so immense that he can't escape its vortex and takes shameless advantage of everyone including his family and his amorous and greedy grad student to perpetuate his humbug. What makes this flick funny is the over-the-top, go-for-broke way in which the characters abandon every moral fibre. And then there's the surprise ending!Movie Review: Warning Not Widescreen as described
Summary: 4 Stars
Amazon has this DVD mislabeled as widescreen 1.85:1 but it is actually 1.33:1 fullscreen. I have received a replacement to my original order and both were the wrong aspect ratio. It even says on the box 1.33:1 full screen.
Other than that this is a good movie.
Movie Review: Nothing Wide about this Screen
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a great DVD movie for all, but especially anthropologists and other university types as it shows Dreyfuss' characther doing what he can to keep his grants and his prestigious job. It is indeed "hysterically funny" and "wildly hilarious" as the covers say and despite its lack of extras is a fine disc so rush out and buy it and...Wait, there's one little problem...WHERE'S THE WIDESCREEN? The back specs say Widescreen, so why is it FullScreen? Granted, the 'home movie' film clips would be difficult to render Wide, but still, why say it is when it is not. Very disappointing, which is why I give it only 3 stars and suggest being careful if that is what you want, otherwise, enjoy. Also, if your looking for another movie like this, check out Joe Versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks.
Movie Review: This tribe is a little too predictable...
Summary: 2 Stars
Sure, `Krippendorf's Tribe' is fun, to an extent, but it's not really as funny as it could be and in the end it is not really as enjoyable as it could be. I found some pleasure in it, but it was limited and for the most part it relied on a more slapstick approach to its humor to get laughs, and I prefer a more intellectual approach (I know, this is not an intellectual movie but still, it could have been a little smarter).
The film tells the story of anthropologist Professor James Krippendorf who had received a grant, along with his wife, to find an unknown tribe out in New Guinea. When his wife died unexpectedly James crashed emotionally and exhausted the money from the grant doing absolutely nothing productive and so, in fear that he'll be sent to prison for abusing the terms of the grant he creates a fictitious tribe. His one little (or not so little) lie spirals out of control and creates a worldwide phenomenon (especially since the tribe is unlike anything anyone has ever heard of) and he finds himself documenting footage of this tribe with his children in his very backyard. An overzealous Professor, Veronica, causes more complications in James keeping his lie a secret, and his eldest daughter's disgust for what her father has been reduced to also starts to weight heavy on James' decisions.
The problem with `Krippendorf's Tribe' lies in a few areas. First, the concept, while promising, is not executed as well as it could have been. It's not believable. Sure, it's an outlandish comedy that doesn't have to be probable, but it still should be believable. The fact that no one recognized that the tribe's people were being played by Krippendorf and his children is ridiculous since the makeup didn't hide anything really. The fact that Veronica recognized herself on the video but the rest of the known world did not is also ridiculous. I know that it seems like a little thing to pick at, but it really reduces the entire films legitimacy. You want to be able to believe that someone could pull this off, but instead all it proves is that the people around Krippendorf were really, really stupid.
The film also makes it a point to go as far as they can (within the boundaries of its rating) to keep the jokes off-color, which is a shame since it shows the films lack of depth. It's not smart enough to come up with anything but the expected toilet humor.
The acting is decent. Richard Dreyfuss pulls his comedy off better than in `What About Bob?' but there is no Bill Murray to elevate the films mediocrity. Jenna Elfman is not a good actress and she kind of just floats here, playing a ditzy admirer as best she can. Really, the only highlight to the film is Lily Tomlin who is always funny, even when her material is not. She kept me entertained, and she was really the only reason I watched the entire film. The film can thank Tomlin for aiding it to a two star (high D) and not a one star rating.
Movie Review: One of the 10 worst movies ever made.
Summary: 1 Stars
The premise of this movie, involving a hairbrained anthropology professor, a lusty grad student, some misappropriated grant funds and a completely invented tribe of New Guineans, is clever. Unfortunately, this movie (pardon what I'm about to say) chews up a good idea and regurgitates it onto the screen. The plot and directing is completely implausible from start to finish. The depiction of native New Guinean tribes is utterly fake, silly and Hollywoodized and, frankly, treats native peoples in an offensively stupid manner. The contrived comedic situations are almost never funny. I chuckled once or twice, but most of the time stared in disbelief at the poor taste and childishness of it all. This in spite of the fact that it has two very skilled actors. Which proves a timeless truth -- actors and their agents are almost always terrible judges of both scripts and directing. Unless you suffer from the same flaw, you will not enjoy this movie.