When this movie is good, it has all the depth and substance of a chewing gum commercial. When it's bad, it's still as shallow as a puddle of tears in the desert while also being dumb, clichéd and just plain lazy. When Undiscovered begins, it seems like it's going to be a story about the attractive underclass of Los Angeles, the models who want to be actors, musicians who want to be rock stars and the people who just want to have a good time. It's inconsequential but slightly engaging, with good chemistry among the pretty cast. Then all that modest charm is ground away by a boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl plot that is so halfhearted it basically commits narrative suicide.
Luke Falcon (Steven Strait) is a struggling musician. Brier Tucket (Pell James) is a model. They have a cute encounter in New York City and then meet again a year later in LA, where Luke is an even more struggling club singer and Brier is trying to make the stereotypical leap from modeling to acting. Even though they're clearly attracted to each other, Brier doesn't want to get involved with Luke for reasons that are so self-evidently stupid that the movie barely references them. Instead, Brier and her new best friend Clea (Ashlee Simpson) conspire to boost Luke's music career by generating some underground "buzz" about it.
That inexplicably works and Luke is picked up by graceless record executive Garrett Schweck (Fisher Stevens). He remakes Luke into an alt-rock singer who looks like a cross of Danzig and Jim Morrison. Luke starts hanging out with Josie (Shannyn Sossamon), a character that makes absolutely no sense within the confines of the story and whose accent veers from Brazilian to Eastern European to New Jersey. Eventually Luke's star crashes to Earth as inexplicably as it rose in the first place, at which point the film suddenly remembers the whole "Luke loves Brier" thing and wraps up with a conclusion so predictable it's actually mentioned in the writings of Nostradamus.
Also hanging around the story are Brier's New York agent, Carrie (Carrie Fisher), and Luke's brother Euan (Kip Pardue), who's only notable by acting like a white Bootsie Collins and doing the world's slowest job of packing a suitcase. I have no idea why either of these characters are in this movie, but they're pleasant and inoffensive.
As long as Undiscovered is focused on this group of characters just dicking around and not really doing anything, it's nicely watchable. Steven Strait is nothing but a sack of meat with a half-Fabio hairdo that gets pulled back into bun and not a douchebag ponytail, but Pell James is beautiful and inviting, even when Brier is a frustrating twit, and Ashlee Simpson and her old nose are quirkily cute. Put them together and they have a fun and youthful ease about them that's both relaxing and amusing.
However, every single time Undiscovered attempts to tells its intended story, the result is disastrous. What isn't stupid is illogical and what isn't stupid and illogical manages to be both insultingly obvious and awkwardly manipulative. It's a bit astounding how bad the storytelling becomes by the end of the movie.
Undiscovered is one of those films where you can tell that something went very wrong at some point in the process and decisions were made that ruined whatever potential the production ever had. In an alternate universe, all those movie turn out great. Unfortunately, this reality's flawed and disappointing version of Undiscovered is all we've got.
Luke Falcon (Steven Strait) is a struggling musician. Brier Tucket (Pell James) is a model. They have a cute encounter in New York City and then meet again a year later in LA, where Luke is an even more struggling club singer and Brier is trying to make the stereotypical leap from modeling to acting. Even though they're clearly attracted to each other, Brier doesn't want to get involved with Luke for reasons that are so self-evidently stupid that the movie barely references them. Instead, Brier and her new best friend Clea (Ashlee Simpson) conspire to boost Luke's music career by generating some underground "buzz" about it.
That inexplicably works and Luke is picked up by graceless record executive Garrett Schweck (Fisher Stevens). He remakes Luke into an alt-rock singer who looks like a cross of Danzig and Jim Morrison. Luke starts hanging out with Josie (Shannyn Sossamon), a character that makes absolutely no sense within the confines of the story and whose accent veers from Brazilian to Eastern European to New Jersey. Eventually Luke's star crashes to Earth as inexplicably as it rose in the first place, at which point the film suddenly remembers the whole "Luke loves Brier" thing and wraps up with a conclusion so predictable it's actually mentioned in the writings of Nostradamus.
Also hanging around the story are Brier's New York agent, Carrie (Carrie Fisher), and Luke's brother Euan (Kip Pardue), who's only notable by acting like a white Bootsie Collins and doing the world's slowest job of packing a suitcase. I have no idea why either of these characters are in this movie, but they're pleasant and inoffensive.
As long as Undiscovered is focused on this group of characters just dicking around and not really doing anything, it's nicely watchable. Steven Strait is nothing but a sack of meat with a half-Fabio hairdo that gets pulled back into bun and not a douchebag ponytail, but Pell James is beautiful and inviting, even when Brier is a frustrating twit, and Ashlee Simpson and her old nose are quirkily cute. Put them together and they have a fun and youthful ease about them that's both relaxing and amusing.
However, every single time Undiscovered attempts to tells its intended story, the result is disastrous. What isn't stupid is illogical and what isn't stupid and illogical manages to be both insultingly obvious and awkwardly manipulative. It's a bit astounding how bad the storytelling becomes by the end of the movie.
Undiscovered is one of those films where you can tell that something went very wrong at some point in the process and decisions were made that ruined whatever potential the production ever had. In an alternate universe, all those movie turn out great. Unfortunately, this reality's flawed and disappointing version of Undiscovered is all we've got.