Undiscovered 2005

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Undiscovered is the kind of elliptical romance in which any scenes of substance (say, where the lovebirds get to know one another or have an actual conversation) have been omitted to clear space for the music video montages. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It may be a cheesy lark, but life bubbles through the cheese. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: An enjoyably cheesy teen melodrama with a touch of indie edge. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Undiscovered is for teens who haven't had their dreams of becoming models and rockers crushed out of them yet. It isn't a really good movie, but there's real talent in it. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: It isn't bad enough to be good. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's contrived, cutesy and quickly tiresome. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Undiscovered is a film about a great songwriter, and it contains horrible songwriting. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Undiscovered would like to think of itself as a gritty, documentary-style indie about hopefuls on the fringes of the industry, but it's more like one of those lame hair-metal bands that went out and bought flannel shirts after Nirvana hit it big. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Strangely for a film about music, Undiscovered lacks any spark or energy. Originality also is out of the question; after all, this is a movie that climaxes with one love-struck character racing after another at an airport. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Incidentally, Simpson is pretty good, playing Luke and Briar's spunky pal. But her inoffensive goodness is a symptom of the movie's relentless homogeneity. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: A movie about artistic authenticity in search of its own. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Like, sigh! Read more

Mark Olsen, L.A. Weekly: Director Meiert Avis is a veteran helmer of music videos, so while it is not entirely surprising that he has no feel for character or structure, it is strange that he doesn't breathe much life into the frequent musical performances and montages either. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Here, unplugged, unremorseful and unfathomably bad, is Undiscovered, a 'romantic comedy with a big heart' (that's publicity-speak) and a very small brain. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Comedy, romance and rock performance are spliced into a curious mediocrity. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Undiscovered feels more like a pilot for a glossy nighttime soap on Fox -- probably one that would be canceled midseason -- than a feature film with even a modicum of discernible originality or depth. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Tyson, a brown and white English bulldog, has his own Web site, which offers clips of the eager fireplug flying down the street on his skateboard. In other words, you don't have to endure this dreadful movie to see him in action. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Set in Los Angeles among a group of young people who dream of becoming famous, Undiscovered carries more than a whiff of the self-referential. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: This is a movie in which we're expected to buy Ashlee Simpson as a singer on the threshold of becoming a major star. That's an idea so ridiculous it could never happen in fiction, only in real life. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: When Hollywood suits conduct their autopsy on what went wrong at the box office this summer, they may wish to exhume the corpse of Undiscovered for a closer inspection. If they can stand the stench. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: As a cautionary drama on the price of fame, Undiscovered could not tread on more exhaustively discovered territory, and the result is a reel-by-reel trail of cliches. Read more

Nona Willis-Aronowitz, Village Voice: A PG-13 dramedy set in L.A. about some attractive, way-too-earnest aspiring stars has the potential to be a delectable good-bad favorite, but Undiscovered is nowhere near the guilty pleasure it could have been. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Tailored for the readership of Teen People magazine and about as thought-provoking as the average 500-word celebrity profile. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Undiscovered just may be the dumbest movie of 2005. Read more