Review of The Joneses (2010) by Alex B — 21 May 2011

This movie tries to be a satire of commercialism and suburbia and at the same time a drama. It fails as a drama because the characters don't earn our sympathies. The Joneses are stealth marketers, a fake family moved into a upper-class gated neighborhood where they show off all of their possessions in attempt to get people to go out and buy it, even though I don't know how they can really track that people are purchasing items because someone recommended it. But it has the same satire American Psycho had that it's better to have the biggest flat screen TV or the best set of golf clubs or the latest hand-held gadgets. Suburbia is really nothing more than a place where fake families show off what they got. There are no friendships, just golfing partners, people who you talk to at the fance saloons or at lunch time. This part works.

What doesn't work is David Duchovny doing his Hank Moody schtick. It doesn't work here. Neither does the "fake" children. One's a nympho who starts sleeping with a neighbor. The other is a closet homosexual who is more interesting in one of the neighborhood boys than his sister. This has been done over again. It would have been more interesting if the movie had gone ahead with the nympho having sex with Duchovny.

What does work is the performances by Demi Moore and Glenne Headly. They are great. Moore shows that she is a great actress as a salesperson who is really to do anything to get to the top. Headly is the epitome of the shallow suburbian housewife, more intrested in parties and materials, than her husband, played by Gary Cole, who is underused here.

As for the ending, the movie tries to come to a resolution after (SPOILER ALERT) Cole's jealousy of The Joneses puts him in financial debt and he commits suicide. The Joneses might strike too close to home for some people, who have lived these lives or worse, still living them. They might want to go chop up their credit cards after seeing this movie.