The Discoverers is a 2012 American dark comedy directed and written by Justin Schwarz. The film stars Griffin Dunne, Madeleine Martin, and Cara Buono.
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 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
Griffin Dunne as Lewis Birch
Madeleine Martin as Zoe
Cara Buono as Nell
John C. McGinley as Bill Birch
Stuart Margolin as Stanley Birch
Devon Graye as Jack
Ann Dowd as Patti
Dreama Walker as Abigail Marshall
Reception
The film was a New York Times Critic's Pick. , the film holds an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 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."