Keeping up with the Joneses, people have been saying that for years basically a way to say someone’s buying something because the other guy has it. It’s a fact of life, we all do it…but it takes a genius to turn that innate form of commercial envy into a marketing ploy. Meet Steve Jones, the man with it all. Meet his beautiful wife, Kate, and two perfect children. Go ahead, try out Steve’s driver on the 10th hole, take his brand new Audi R8 for a spin around the block than relax with Steve as he pours you a glass of scotch. Sounds like the kind of guy you’d want to be friends with doesn’t it? Only one problem, Steve isn’t real. Well…Steve the person is real enough, Steve the persona, not so much. You see Steve is an undercover marketing scheme; he and his family are all employees of a company that puts false families into affluent neighborhoods to show off all the coolest new toys that the big companies want sold. Ok, so Steve’s not real but it sounds like he’s got the coolest job on the planet, right? Well it certainly has it’s perks but what happens when the freshness of the toys wears off and your left alone with nothing but your fake family. Still sound great? First time writer/director Derrick Borte brings us this story of consumerism, envy, excess, lonlieness, and the emptiness of material things.
Steve Jones, played wonderfully by David Duchovney, is the center of our story and the newest member of his marketing “cell”. It’s through him that we truly see the err of our commercially driven lives. Borte does an amazing job conveying the fact that happiness can’t be purchased through Jones’s characters late night sadness and Duchovney really hammers that home with his performance. This is a guy that deserves to be a leading man on the big screen, not that there’s anything wrong with TV I just think he shows here that he’s ready for the big time. Effortlessly he moves from a guy you want to be, to a guy you just feel sorry for, to someone you really end up rooting for. Demi Moore plays his fake wife Kate, cold, and business driven she is all about the sale and, at least on the surface, doesn’t seem to mind the nights all alone in a 1,000 thread count Ethan Allen sheet set. I don’t want to take away from her performance but man this woman defies all laws of nature and seemingly gets more beautiful with each year that passes. Past just the looks she’s a hell of an actress and her chemistry with Duchovney really makes the movie what it is. She plays the ideal trophy wife with such ease it’s scary. Next on the cast that must be mentioned list is Gary Cole…man I love this guy! His characters scenes with Steve drive the humor and at times the drama of the movie. There’s just something about him that makes you laugh and the fact that the writing for the movie is downright hilarious at times doesn’t hurt either. Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth play the kids Mick and Jenn, more on them later. The best thing about this film is the way it seems to switch genres without you even noticing. One second you’re watching a downright funny comedy and the next a romantic drama right into a damn near Shakespearian tragedy, and it never feels forced. The transition is so organic that you would have to really try to notice when the theme changes. I especially liked how Borte included a very powerful message without nailing you over the head with it. The movie really shows you how important family and love really is, material things are great when everything’s going well but your Porsche isn’t going to comfort you after you lose your job or while mourning the death of a loved one. All too often when these types of things are in movies they feel the need to overemphasize it and not let the audience get it on their own, not Borte…he puts it out there and if you get it, great! If not, well, the movies still really funny so you’ve got that.
For me most of the negatives of the film reside with the kids. Not that there was anything wrong with the actors that portrayed them, just that I didn’t think there was enough done with them to really warrant their inclusion. Amber Heard’s, Jenn is a bit of a whore who ends up sleeping with a neighborhood husband and Ben Hollingsworth’s Mick is just a typical cool guy with cool toys and a little secret. While I suppose you could say that their story lines served to show the fake family’s trials and tribulations I just felt like they were thrown in there to give us a break from the lives of Steve and Kate. I suppose it was done in the interest of time but I think we missed out on some good story with their shortened screen time; Mick especially had a story that could’ve gone somewhere a little deeper. I also thought the end of the film should have gone in a different direction, sticking closer to the dark comedy that it became. I won’t go any further on that to avoid ruining anything but I will say that director Derrick Borte did mention he shot 5 or 6 different endings so perhaps that can rectify itself on the DVD release.
I’ll admit I was impressed going into the movie by the concept alone, and a bit scared at how plausible this kind of thing really is! That being said I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film. There are a ton of really good laughs with some real heartfelt emotion to balance it out. ‘The Joneses’ isn’t like most films you’ll see out there, it’s definitely a bit different but not at all in a bad way. I think at this point it kind of goes without saying but I would definitely recommend you head out and see ‘The Joneses’ as soon as you get the chance…hey, you’re neighbors are going to see it, you don’t want to be left out do you?
4 Guttenbergs
