''The Discoverers'' is a 2012 American

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

directed and written by Justin Schwarz. The film stars

Griffin Dunne Thomas Griffin Dunne (; born June 8, 1955) is an American actor, film producer, and film director. Dunne studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in '' An Amer ...

Madeleine Martin Madeleine Elizabeth Martin (born April 15, 1993) is an American actress, known for her role as the character Rebecca "Becca" Moody on Showtime comedy-drama ''Californication''. Early life Martin grew up in New York City, United States. As her ...

, and

Cara Buono Cara Buono (born 1973/1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dr. Faye Miller in the fourth season of the AMC drama series ''Mad Men''; Kelli Moltisanti in the sixth season of ''The Sopranos''; Linda Salvo in the 2006 ...

Plot

Washed-up history professor Lewis Birch (Oscar and Emmy nominated Griffin Dunne) takes his begrudging teenage kids – Zoe (Madeleine Martin, “Californication”) and Jack (Devon Graye, “American Horror Stories”) – on a road trip to a conference in hopes of putting his career back on track. But, when Lewis’s estranged father Stanley (Emmy Award-winning Stuart Margolin) goes AWOL on a

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

historical reenactment trek, Lewis is forced to make a family detour. The Birch family find themselves on a journey of discovery and connection as they make their own passage west.

Cast

as Lewis Birch *

as Zoe *

as Nell *

John C. McGinley John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor. His best known roles include Perry Cox in '' Scrubs'', Bob Slydell in ''Office Space'', Captain Hendrix in '' The Rock'', Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon,'' ...

as Bill Birch *

Stuart Margolin Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022) was an American film, theater, and television actor and director who won two Emmy Awards for playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series ''The Rockford Files''. In 1973, h ...

as Stanley Birch * Devon Graye as Jack *

Ann Dowd Ann Dowd (born January 30, 1956) is an American actress. She has played supporting roles in numerous films, including ''Green Card'' (1990), ''Lorenzo's Oil'' (1992), ''Philadelphia'' (1993), '' Garden State'' (2004), '' The Manchurian Candidate' ...

as Patti *

Dreama Walker Dreama Elyse Walker (born June 20, 1986) is an American actress. She is known for her supporting role in the series ''Gossip Girl'', her lead role in the film '' Compliance'' (2012), and her lead roles in two short-lived television series, the c ...

as Abigail Marshall

Reception

The film was a New York Times Critic's Pick. , the film holds an 88% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 26 reviews with an average rating of 6.24 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''The Discoverers'' is occasionally guilty of contrived silliness, but its humor and genuine warmth are more than enough to compensate for its modest shortcomings."

References

External links

* *
discoverersmovie.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Discoverers 2012 films 2012 black comedy films Films shot in Oregon Films set in Oregon Films shot in Pennsylvania Films shot in Chicago 2010s English-language films American black comedy films 2010s American films