Undiscovered
Undiscovered | |
| Rated: | None |
| Director: | Meiert Avis |
| Cast: | Pell James, Steven Strait, Ashlee Simpson, Kip Pardue, Shannyn Sossamon, Carrie Fisher, Peter Weller, Fisher Stevens |
| Release Date: | 2005 |
| Genre: | Musical, Romantic Comedy |
Full of romantic notions and bloated musical numbers, Undiscovered is a lifeless affair, as disinterested in its own characters as moviegoers are likely to be. Actor/musician Steven Strait stars as aspiring singer/songwriter Luke Falcon, who has a brief but memorable (for him) encounter with an aspiring model/actress named Brier Tucket (Pell James) on a New York subway the night before making his big move to Los Angeles. Fast-forward two years later, when Luke once again crosses paths with Brier. He smells a second chance, but she, having been burned by a philandering Brit-rocker named Mick (natch), has sworn off musicians and would rather be friends. Wackiness ensues, and for a movie about a great songwriter struggling to be heard, it contains some truly awful music (the best performance is a party band’s cover of Steve Miller’s “Jungle Love”). Helmed by music-video director Meiert Avis, Undiscovered feels like about three dozen pop videos—many of them featuring Ashlee Simpson, whose daddy is unsurprisingly listed as a producer—strung together by film students recovering from a weekend-long Red Bull-and-vodka bender the day before their thesis film is due. The only inspired moment to be found comes from a wonderfully surreal 11th-hour cameo by Peter Weller as a Hemingway-quoting record producer who wears his sunglasses at night.