Prof. James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss), an anthropologist, was on a trip with his family to New Guinea searching for a lost tribe when his wife died. He returns home without finding the tribe. Krippendorf is awakened one day by Prof. Veronica Micelli (Jenna Elfman) who reminds him he is giving a presentation that night on his findings. Since he found nothing and spent the grant money anyway, Krippendorf decides to make up a tribe. He manes the tribe Shelmikedmu after his kids Shelly (Natasha Lyonne), Mickey (Gregory Smith), and Edmund (Carl Michael Linder). A fellow anthroplogy professor, Ruth Allen (Lily Tomlin), does not buy into the story and attempts to show Krippendorf for the fraud he is. Soon the tribes notoriety grows out of control and Krippendorf's life becomes one long attempt to stay one lie ahead of everyone else.
It's amazing what passes for comedy these days. There are approximately 3 minutes of funny stuff. Krippendorf and his actions are not amusing they are criminal. He misappropriates $100,000 and lies about it, and involves his kids. Later he gets a woman drunk, has sex with her, tapes it, and gives it to a TV station to broadcast. While I am far from prudish, this does not sound like comedy to me. Elfman provides the only signs of life in an otherwise stale movie. The world would have been a better place had Krippendorf's Tribe remained lost.