This is the 2nd comedy that I have seen Richard Dreyfuss in that I thought was hilarious -"What About Bob" being the other one. Again, I am shocked and appalled at how brutal the other so called "expert" critics are towards this very funny movie. Some critics bashed it because of the gullable way in which the college staff and students fell for Krippendorf's ridiculous plot. Basically, Dreyfuss plays James Krippendorf, a college professor raising his 3 kids due to the untimely death of his wife and professional colleague. They both studied native tribes in Africa, but the wife dies leaving Krippendorf very depressed and unable to continue with these tribal studies. The college is unaware that he hasn't continued his research in spite of the generous grant which was spent on everything except the research for which it was intended. He devises a scheme involving himself and his kids playing native Africans from a "lost tribe" being filmed "on location" to have something to show for the misappropriated grant funding. His film is a big hit and he is forced to continue to make up additional stories and film on this "lost tribe". Jenna Elfman plays Veronica Micelli, a fellow teacher and admirer to his work who unknowingly gets duped into becoming a part of this scheme (by getting drunk and having sex with Krippendorf while both are made up to look like African natives in a hut!) Lili Tomlin plays a jealous professor who doesn't like all the attention that Krippendorf is getting from this "lost tribe" and decides to investigate whether this tribe exists (by flying off to Africa to see this tribe herself). Although this movie has a ridiculous premise (who would really believe that the lost tribe films were authentic in real life), it is still very funny and deserves a better rating than the 4.9 that was given. I would give it a 7.5 as a comedy because it has many funny moments. Krippendorf standing in front of a large classroom and nervously weaving his tall tale of the "Mike-a-moo" tribe with a blank sheet of paper as his "research notes" and the way which this story escalates makes for a very entertaining comedy. Some "critics" should learn to develop a sense of humor and not bash films such as this for not being "realistic" in content.
Review of Krippendorf's Tribe
