Krippendorf’s Tribe

Directed by Todd Holland, Krippendorf’s Tribe follows Richard Dreyfuss’ James Krippendorf as he’s forced to invent a New Guinea tribe after he squanders his generous research grant. It’s an oddball premise that’s employed to sporadically watchable effect by Holland, as the filmmaker, working from Charlie Peters’ screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced comedy that fares best in its affable first half – with the decent-enough vibe perpetuated by Dreyfuss’ predictably harried, exasperated performance. (Periphery players like Lily Tomlin and Stephen Root add a nice amount of color to the proceedings, while Jenna Elfman, cast as James’ love interest, offers up a rather broad turn that grows more and more grating as time progresses.) And although the movie has been punctuated with a whole host of questionable attributes, including (yet somehow not limited to) James’ decision to put his kids in blackface, Krippendorf’s Tribe doesn’t quite wear out its welcome until it arrives at its padded-out and hopelessly anticlimactic third act – with Holland’s efforts at cultivating a fun, frenetic feel falling hopelessly (and palpably) flat. The end result is a high-concept comedy that ultimately doesn’t have enough plot to justify a full-length running time, which is a shame, certainly, given that Dreyfuss is undoubtedly giving his all here.

** out of ****