Starring Steven Strait, Pell James. Written by John Galt. Directed by Meiert
Avis. (PG) 97 min. Opens Aug 26.
If you hate one movie this year, make it Undiscovered. Luke
(Steven Strait) -- a wannabe rock star with Creed hair and a filthy
moustache -- spies the beautiful Brier (Pell James) on a New York
subway. Of course, fate is a mean-spirited prick: immediately after
seeing the love of his subway ride, Luke leaves for Los Angeles to
follow his dream of making crappy, crappy music.
Two years
later, Brier -- a generic blond model -- heads to LA to become an
actress. She immediately befriends fellow struggling actress Clea,
played by the struggling-to-act Ashlee Simpson. (In fairness, Simpson
isn't that bad but her confidence seems fake, like the kid who knows
she's only invited to the party because her parents insisted on it.
Incidentally, her dad executive-produced Undiscovered.)
Luke
and Brier meet and hit it off, but Brier refuses to get romantically
involved with a rock star. In one dull scene, Luke protests, "I'm not a
rock star, I'm a musician." Our little musician eventually lands a
record deal, but just as success starts going to Luke's hair, fate
returns to adjust his attitude.
Sure,
Undiscovered has a formulaic plot and over-dramatic dialogue that's
as subtle as a senile, racist grandmother. But the film's biggest fault is its
sloppiness. The climactic moment when Clea thanks Brier for helping her work
through her issues, for instance, would be more effective if the audience had
heard any prior mention of these issues. Now we need to wait a whole two weeks
for
Undiscovered to hit DVD so we can see the omitted footage.