Synopsis
In the near future, due to a breakthrough scientific discovery by Dr. Thomas Harbor, there is now definitive proof of an afterlife. While countless people have chosen suicide to reset their existence, others try to decide what it all means. Among them is Dr. Harbor's son Will, who has arrived at his father's isolated compound with a mysterious young woman named Isla. There, they discover the strange acolytes who help Dr. Harbor with his experiments.
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Cast
- Jason SegelWill Harbor
- Rooney MaraIsla
- Robert RedfordDr. Thomas Harbor
- Jesse PlemonsToby Harbor
- Riley KeoughLacey
- Ron CanadaCooper
- Brian McCarthyAndy
- Kimleigh SmithPam
- M.J. KarmiJanice Phillips
- Adam KhaykinOliver
Recommendations
- 75
The Film Stage
By concurrently threading the needle of both the hereafter and emotional breakthroughs for our characters, it can make the plot schematics feel too tidy in their construction, but the journey in finding how these elements fit together is never less than engrossing. - 75
IndieWire
By turns resoundingly human and regretfully half-baked, the film wears its influences on its sleeve. - 75
The A.V. Club
At the very least, its central mystery keeps you guessing, right up until a final turn that’s nearly as clever as it is convoluted. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Unfortunately, after its fine start, this brainy slice of provocative speculative fiction slowly but surely loosens its grip on audience involvement rather than increasing it. - 60
Screen Daily
While the movie overdoes the plot twists and existential musings, The Discovery is a diverting head-trip whose reach far exceeds its grasp. - 60
Variety
Though The Discovery starts out with a great premise, its mystery dissipates over a somewhat tepid course as the concept ultimately heads in a direction we’ve seen many times before, and depends overmuch on chemistry that fails to materialize between stars Jason Segel and Rooney Mara. - 60
The New York Times
The story stays intriguing for much of the way, but eventually things cease to make sense. - 60
Village Voice
While the film is ambitious, with enough intrigue and uneasy moral quandaries to keep my attention rapt in the end it just doesn’t make the leap to the other side.
