Undiscovered DVD Review:

Somewhere within Undiscovered there is a hit. Not to say it is a good film, or even a mediocre film, but it has all of the elements that would seem to make it a perfect hit for young teens. There are attractive actors, a hip pop icon, sappy love songs, and mostly just young people acting like they are older than they are. It is a film filled with hopes and dreams, a lot like Center Stage with music instead of dancing. So why did the film pass by without any interest? I’m not quite sure, but it is probably a good thing for film in the long run.

When a struggling musician (Steven Strait) isn’t making it after six months in New York, he decides to move to Los Angeles. On his way to the airport he has a chance encounter with a young model, who he ends up running into again when she moves to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. They almost date, but when she helps jumpstart his career as a musician, he quickly forgets who she is.

Nearly the entire film dances around whether or not they are going to end up together, in between songs. It is known that they will end up in each other’s arms, and that isn’t the problem with the film. The problem is that it never remains interesting on the journey to the end. They struggle, they fight, and all the while the audience just wants them to kiss and make up as it inevitably will happen. Of course, it is dragged out until it is painful.

There is actually somewhat of a raw quality to the visuals of the film. It has a roughness that makes it feel somewhat edgy, but that doesn’t fit with the material all too well. The film itself is very commercial, and it doesn’t matter how indi it looks, the material is still very predictable. The one thing that the film has going for it is the music, which works within the film, but watch one of the music videos that re in the special features and you will see that it only works in the film.

Ashlee Simpson is present in the film as a face, and occasionally she is brought into the singing world, even though she doesn’t play a singer, but rather an actor. In all honesty, the truest thing about the film is not having her play a singer, but she isn’t all that convincing as an actor either. It is also very strange how her live performances in the film have reverb and other produced qualities. I suppose that if had really been singing live in the film, nobody would have sat through it.

The DVD Bonus features include a director’s commentary track, which is less than exciting, a “making of” featurette, and some deleted scenes. The featurette is decent, mostly because it isn’t very long, and the deleted scenes are rather useless. There are also four music videos, three of which directly from the film, and one exclusive Ashlee Simpson music video, “That’s Why I Love You”.



Ryan Izay