Undiscovered
Starring: Pell James, Ashlee Simpson, Kip Pardue
Directed by: Meiert Avis

Undiscovered Reviewed by Paul Heath

UNDISCOVERED tells the story of two 'talents', one a musician, Luke (Steven Strait) and the other, Brier (Pell James), a model/ wanabee actress. On a chance meeting in New York, the two's lives are changed, each inspiring the other to do better, and the duo, separately head to the sunny shores of Los Angeles to pursue their dreams. Once there they meet again, and swearing herself off dating rock stars (she has a British rock star boyfriend who treats her like...well you know), Brier decides to help Luke, using her modeling contacts, jump-start his career in the music biz.

Throughout 2005, I've sat down and watched some stinkers. Awful, run of the mill romantic comedies that tread the same ground as countless others. I keep watching these flicks hoping that I come across a hidden gem. UNDISCOVERED wasn't one of those movies I'm sorry to say.

Okay, the premise was quite good, but break it down and it's the same old thing. Boy meets girl, boy gets with girl (eventually in this case), boy and girl break up, and then in the final reel, get back together and live happy ever after. Even then, that's all well and good, as it's a tried and tested formula, so it will work, as long as there's something different in their somewhere. Again, nothing like that here.

I'm being a little harsh. I didn't not enjoy this movie, but I think my twenty-eight-year-old-self is probably around ten to fifteen years over the target audience for this movie -and possibly the wrong sex too. For me, the characters seemed a little shallow and unendearing, I found the wafer thin plot a little tiresome in places and to be honest, all a bit pointless. Everything is also so convenient too. For example, the two chance meetings of the two leads. When Brier and Luke meet for the first time, the meeting lasts for less than what, ten seconds as a train door closes. Forward a year and the two meet again in LA club The Mint (by chance), and Luke instantly recognizes Brier across the room - all from that ten-second chance meeting back in New York. Dude's got a better memory than me... There's also that wonderful cliché ridden climax to film as Luke races through the airport to get to Brier before she jets back to New York. Turns out that he has to buy a ticket to get on the plane to get to her - but he has no money. No worries, hippy brother Kip Pardue's there, who just happens to have a grand in cash in his pocket. Very handy.

There are some entertaining points. Really. The dog on the skateboard was kinda funny, and Ashlee Simpson and young Pell James are very easy on the eye, and to be honest the music is non too shabby. Shannyn Sossamon, who plays a Brazilian model also seems to be having a little fun with the material, and she's a stand out part of the flick. It's also a pretty good debut for Ms. Simpson, who we'll probably see a lot more of acting wise in the future too.

In all, it's all a little disappointing really. UNDISCOVERED, I think, is strictly for the teen market or fans of films like CROSSROADS or, I hate to say it, GLITTER. There's not a lot in there for anyone else.

So, onto the extras. Well, this type of movie rarely features any decent material. Predictably we get treated to an Ashlee Simpson music video called "That's Why I Love You". The song is pretty good, and the video features footage and stills from the movie. The rest is set in The Mint where Simpson mimes to the track. There are four other videos, "House Lights", "Boomerang", "This Is Living", and the stand-out song "Smart In A Stupid Way". All are also intercut with footage from the film.

There are nine deleted scenes included on the disc, and those regular readers of the site will know of my opinion of deleted scenes in general. Pointless, as is the case here. There good scenes, but irrelevant out of context.

Just as pointless is the photo gallery, which includes a bunch of pics from the movie.

The director's commentary is informative and helmer Avis gives a good insight into the production of the movie.

The 'making of' runs for around fifteen minutes and features interviews with the cast and crew. More insight into the production is given, and shows off a lot of the LA locations used in the movie.

There are a bunch of trailers from Lions Gate. They are the Ryan Reynolds comedy WAITING, another teeny comedy SHE GETS WHAT SHE WANTS, TV series WILDFIRE, BRAVE NEW GIRL which is produced by Lynn and Britney Spears and spelling drama AKEELA AND THE BEE.

To sum the whole thing up. UNDISCOVERED is not a bad movie, in fact I've read a lot of positive things about it on the web, but I think it falls into the category of teen drama, and possibly should only be targeted to hat age range. That said older viewers may find something of interest too, but it's possibly another movie for a rental rather than a retail purchase. It just wasn't for me I'm afraid.

Grade: C-

Paul Heath