Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jenna Elfman and Lily Tomlin Directed by Todd Holland Rated PG-13 with profanity and comic sexual references Running time 98 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 6 out of 10

(Feb. 27, 1998) -- From the start of Krippendorf's Tribe, it's obvious that James Krippendorf's life is a mess.

Played with comic zest by Richard Dreyfuss, Krippendorf is a widowed father whose three rambunctious children are clearly out of control. And his career as a once-famous anthropologist is now stuck in the proverbial, primordial muck.

Since the death of his wife, a fellow anthropologist, a few years earlier, Krippendorf hasn't been able to get a grip.

Nonetheless, he's continued to live on a considerable chunk of grant money, which he was given for research into a rare, primitive New Guinea tribe.

Suddenly, the professor is confronted with the need to give a lecture on his discoveries, and because he has no discoveries, he's in trouble.

His solution? He makes up a bunch of hooey about a primitive society he calls the Shelmikedmu -- and enlists his children to don black-face makeup and rain forest costumes so he can make a bogus documentary film about the tribe.

The idea, of course, is that by portraying a tribal family, the real Krippendorfs will discover their own worth as a family.

As directed by Todd Holland, Krippendorf's Tribe makes that central point with ease, though it never quite gets around the idea that the father and his children benefit from living a lie.

Still, it's a fairly benign fib -- and frequently funny, as well. The hilarity is heightened when Krippendorf masquerades as a Shelmikedmu chieftain -- and Dreyfuss must jump quickly between the two personas.

Dreyfuss has generated laughs before as a harried hustler. Remember Down and Out in Beverly Hills, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Moon Over Parador? And his amusing work here reflects that experience.

Relative newcomer Jenna Elfman (of TV's Dharma & Greg) displays humorous, self-assured sass as Krippendorf's colleague and co-conspirator.

Unfortunately, she's also his love interest. At 26, Elfman looks (and is) young enough to be a daughter to the 50-year-old Dreyfuss. Their celluloid romance is only the most recent in Hollywood's long, tiresome campaign to match middle-aged male stars with fresh-faced ingenues half their age.

The two are surrounded by such impressive co-stars as Lily Tomlin, Elaine Stritch, Tom Poston and David Ogden Stiers. It's a shame we see too little of them and too much of a story we can't believe.