"It's a tribal thing..."      

KRIPPENDORF'S TRIBE (PG-13) 

Reviewed March 1, 1998 - Check out the Krippendorf's Tribe web site.

The problem with one-joke movies is that it's difficult to keep that joke funny for an hour and a half.  In Krippendorf's Tribe, Richard Dreyfuss plays Prof. James Krippendorf, an anthropologist faced with both financial and professional pressure to share his research on a lost tribe from New Guinea.  Unfortunately, there is no lost tribe, but with a highly anticipated lecture scheduled for that evening, and with his professional reputation at stake, Krippendorf is forced to come up with something.  What to do, what to do...ah yes, let's go ahead and invent a tribe: the Shelmikedmu.  What a great idea!  And so, with the help of his kids, some dark body paint, lots of straw and a few pigs and goats, Krippendorf creates a new tribe in his own backyard.  Ha ha.

To be fair, there are a few funny moments early on in Krippendorf's Tribe.  Dreyfuss can always deliver a good one-liner, and there are a number of them sprinkled here and there in this film.  Jenna Elfman, who plays anthropologist Veronica Micelli, also does well as the bubbly, bright-eyed supporter of Krippendorf's "work."  Unfortunately, there's not much more to this film, its cast, and its storyline.  With a plot that quickly moves from "slightly amusing" to "fairly annoying," and with characters that do the same, Krippendorf's Tribe simply falls flat and ceases to be funny shortly after it starts. 

Save yourself the time and the money...see something else.

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

flashlight21@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "Hi..TO all the Richard Dreyfuss Fans..." (12/5/99)