From the outset you know that there’s something a little too perfect about the Joneses. From their opulent house in a gated community to their seemingly fresh off the factory floor furniture to their open and overt perkiness, you can’t help but think that there’s something up here. Maybe it was just David Duchovny’s presence as the patriarch, and remembering that episode of The X-Files where Mulder and Scully go undercover in suburbia, but I was thinking either CIA or Russian mob maybe. Or maybe they’re just a nice family, it could happen. But then at bed time mom and dad head for their separate bedrooms, and later teen daughter Jennifer slips downstairs, strips to her birthday suit and slides into bed next to daddy. Okay, now we have a movie.
Relax gang, no incestuous hanky-panky afoot in The Joneses, a new film by German director Derrick Borte which is both timely and engrossing. “The Joneses” are “mom” and “dad” Kate (Demi Moore) and Steve (Duchovny) and “kids” Jen (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth). The four are a sales team that moves into an area, poses as a family and then promotes various high-end luxury goods simply by going about their daily lives as if these were actually their daily lives. Mick shows off his gadgets to fellow high schoolers; Jen, who’s a bombshell of course, flashes various beauty enhancing cosmetics; Steve has grown-up toys like new golf clubs and riding mowers with built in TVs; and Kate sports the latest fashions and accessories.
It’s the ultimate in subliminal advertising because no one’s going to think twice about the neighbour with the cool new toys. The Joneses are aptly named, as if “keeping up with…” Poor Larry (Gary Cole) knows that pain as he frantically tries to keep up with Steve to the detriment of things like his house payments and his credit card bills. Enter the morality play portion of the film as Larry buys himself into a debt hole so big that the only way out for him is a fate so obviously horrific that you should have seen it coming all along. Alas poor Larry, the lesson to be learned is one that’s cost so many in the last several years, that the price of keeping up with the Joneses is often a trip to bankruptcy court.
I almost wish that Borte had pushed a little harder on this message, but his approach to the story is actually very message-free and more focused on testing the very nature of the artificiality we all live our lives with to some degree. Naturally Steve, the newbie, of the group, is the one that tends to sense the most the growing wrongness in what they’re doing, even as he himself is top sales dog of the family. Mick meanwhile, lives a life of quiet frustration, fighting his urge to come out as gay despite his “character’s” alpha dog status. Jen, meanwhile, busies herself by dating married men, only to get burned when their wives find out. Steve though sets his sights on Kate, who’s all business though Steve slowly wears her down. Their boss, the mysterious KC (Lauren Hutton), warns Steve though that Kate is all business, and to not fall so completely for this façade they’ve created.
The Joneses is certainly a compelling character piece that’s a great showcase for Duchovny’s comedic chops. Moore is still as lovely as ever, and in playing Kate she gets to play a woman driven to being the top of her field, yet still somehow knowing that there’s more to life than pretending to be someone you’re not. Moore and Duchovny also have a great chemistry together as the will-they-or-won’t-they romantic stuff works very well in keeping with the plot. I think the kids though get shafted; Hollingsworth does some interesting things with the notion that he’s keeping a secret within a secret, but the script does really give Mick any emphasis. Heard is gorgeous of course, but that’s about all the script requires of her.
As a character piece, The Joneses is wonderful; it’s captivating, and keeps you guessing about the characters, their motivations and indeed where the whole thing is going. The story though can be weak in places, like a subplot from Desperate Housewives that strains to reach its point even though the film is having fun carrying on without covering the plot points. Because of that, I’m not sure if Borte is trying to say something with this movie, or if the premise was just a neat idea to hang a movie on. In the end though, I enjoyed the film without getting answers to these nagging questions. Forget keeping up with The Joneses, just roll with them.
