Lost and Found in Cleveland (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

Lost and Found in Cleveland

LOST AND FOUND IN CLEVELAND (2025)

Starring Martin Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, June Squibb, Stacy Keach, Yvette Yates Redick, Santino Fontana, Dot-Marie Jones, Loretta Devine, Liza Weil, Esther Povitsky, Rory O'Malley, Jeff Hiller, Jon Lovitz, Mark L. Walberg, Benjamin Steinhauser, Rob Mayes, Vanessa Burghardt, Bryant Carroll, Bryan Coffee and Stephon Fuller.

Screenplay by  Marisa Guterman & Keith Gerchak.

Directed by Marisa Guterman & Keith Gerchak.

Distributed by Attend. 122 minutes. Rated PG-13.

It’s sort of ironic that Lost and Found in Cleveland is about a TV show celebrating antiques, because it feels like something out of a different time. This is because the movie is about a group of guests on a reality show called Lost and Found – which is obviously a barely disguised variation on the long-running TV series Antiques Roadshow. I mean really, the show within the show, when it is displayed, is a dead ringer for the long-time PBS favorite. Hell, they even hired former Antiques Roadshow host Mark L. Wahlberg to play the host of the fictitious show.

Look, I like Antiques Roadshow as much as the next guy. However, it kind of makes you wonder, when was the last time that show was a relevant hit? At least a decade or so ago. So, why in 2025, when the show is less remembered and Donald Trump has defunded public broadcasting, would they be making a movie about the show? Has anyone really been waiting around for Antiques Roadshow – The Motion Picture?

But is Lost and Found in Cleveland enjoyable? Sure, much in the same unchallenging way that an episode of Antiques Roadshow is fun to watch.

However, Lost and Found in Cleveland is not just a bunch of antiques aficionados hanging out in a museum getting their tchotchkes appraised. Lost and Found in Cleveland spends the first hour or so of the film letting you in on the backstories. We find out about the contestants, and the judges, and the hosts, and even the local government of Cleveland.

This does give you a little more rooting interest than in an average episode of the show, where it is just a parade of random people who are there looking to find out what their old stuff is worth. Here the focus is more on the people than it is on the items.

Those people include Dennis Haysbert (24) as a soulful mail carrier who collects glass vases because his beloved late mother loved flowers. There is also an elderly couple (Stacy Keach and June Squibb) who are battling the early signs of dementia and want to know the worth of an Egyptian vase given to him by a friend who was killed in the war.

Then there is the smart, woke couple (Santino Fontana and Esther Povitsky) where  he is embarrassed by the somewhat racist Aunt Jemima collection that he has just inherited from his grandmother, but she finds it an opportunity for discussion. Then there is the lonely and prickly trophy wife (Liza Weil of Gilmore Girls and How to Get Away With Murder) who is trying to fill the emptiness of her life with her estranged family through a huge indigenous sculpture which she bought in Africa.

Also widowed waitress Yvette Yates Redick and her super-fan nine-year-old son Benjamin Steinhauser want to prove that they have some items from William McKinley, the only US president from the Cleveland area.

That said, getting to know the people and their “finds” detracts from the suspense inherent in the show – in general the nicer people here get the higher values for their antiques, while the pricklier people tend to be disappointed.

It’s not a great film, however, Lost and Found in Cleveland is a perfectly pleasant way to pass some time. Sort of like the show it is based upon. 

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: November 6, 2025.