Much as we liberally educated intellectuals disdain materialism, or at least say we do, a film that features the toys of the well-to-do carries an allure, a cheap pleasure appealing to our basest materialistic instincts. Such an appealing experience can be had if you watch The Joneses, a cautionary tale about high-end marketers posing as a happy family seducing neighbors and friends to buy the goods they flaunt.
The Grifters told of low-lifes scamming in traditional con games that were harmless because most of us would never be caught in the compromising places these scammers frequent. But In The Joneses, the glamorous people next door, whose glitzy alcohol itself is worth buying, are a family on product parade reaping rewards for everything they have convinced you to buy just because you wanted to be like the Joneses.
David Duchovny, as father Steve Jones, is his coolest ever, the new dude on the block with everything, down to his impressive wife Kate (Demi Moore), and two beautiful children, Jenn (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth). They're all working the con, selling by showing to every stratum of the newly-wealthy. This first segment of the film, which shows them working their game, is as entertaining as one of Danny Ocean's capers, only less obvious and perhaps more dangerous because of its detachment from the normal heist.
The tension comes when exposure of the con looms and more importantly when one or more of the "unit" begins to have scruples about the game. Chaucer would approve of the moral ambiguities and the threat of retribution by the gods of righteousness. Unfortunately as things begin to come apart, the film turns from slick to sluggish, from fresh to cliché.
As a moralized tale The Joneses is best when we are witnessing the smooth con; the denouement is too much of mom arriving when our hand has just left the cookie jar and lying is not going to work. But as long as Moore and Duchovny are achieving some level of screwball amusement, the film is better than most other dramadies out there today.
The Grifters told of low-lifes scamming in traditional con games that were harmless because most of us would never be caught in the compromising places these scammers frequent. But In The Joneses, the glamorous people next door, whose glitzy alcohol itself is worth buying, are a family on product parade reaping rewards for everything they have convinced you to buy just because you wanted to be like the Joneses.
David Duchovny, as father Steve Jones, is his coolest ever, the new dude on the block with everything, down to his impressive wife Kate (Demi Moore), and two beautiful children, Jenn (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth). They're all working the con, selling by showing to every stratum of the newly-wealthy. This first segment of the film, which shows them working their game, is as entertaining as one of Danny Ocean's capers, only less obvious and perhaps more dangerous because of its detachment from the normal heist.
The tension comes when exposure of the con looms and more importantly when one or more of the "unit" begins to have scruples about the game. Chaucer would approve of the moral ambiguities and the threat of retribution by the gods of righteousness. Unfortunately as things begin to come apart, the film turns from slick to sluggish, from fresh to cliché.
As a moralized tale The Joneses is best when we are witnessing the smooth con; the denouement is too much of mom arriving when our hand has just left the cookie jar and lying is not going to work. But as long as Moore and Duchovny are achieving some level of screwball amusement, the film is better than most other dramadies out there today.