Krippendorf's Tribe (1998)

Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) stars Richard Dreyfuss as Professor James Krippendorf, an anthropologist who's blown all his grants on his three rugrats. Now it's time to show the fruits of his labor, and Richard has no proof that he's done anything but goof. See, he was supposed to be using the money to locate a lost tribe in New Guinea, but his wife up and died and he sorta lost track of time. Now, in order to cover his butt, Richard's invented a tribe called the Shelmikedmu; they have ample odd rituals and love Neolithic dildoes, and rival prof Lily Tomlin doesn't believe they're anything but a hoax. She demands film of the tribe, so to keep his career alive Richard and his family dress up in blackface and fake a bunch of footage. This crummy humbug not only works . . . it pays off big! And it lands him a shot at Jenna Elfman too. All it takes to get with such a broad is to commit massive fraud! Who knew?