David Duchovny is charming the way Tom Cruise is short: extremely. This makes him the perfect male lead in The Joneses, the story of a the most charming family in the world. The film sees the Joneses arrive in a wildly affluent suburb, and immediately begin delighting the community with their charm, beauty, and loads of cool stuff. We soon find out, however, that the Joneses are not necessarily who they seem, and that keeping up with them could have terrible consequences.
The Joneses hinges on a really good, and really timely premise that I really can’t share here for fear of completely ruining the film. What I will say is that the idea could support at least three good movies: a drama, a comedy, and a morality tale about the evils of capitalism. What we get is a bit of all three, sewn together nicely enough to not feel clunky and thoughtfully enough to balance out its glossy stylings. Duchovny is a charm-machine throughout, and gets strong support from his fellow family members: Demi Moore (who has looked 35 for 20 years), Ben Hollingsworth (Can-con 4EVA!), and Amber Heard. The characters each have a compelling individual arc, but all slowly buckle under the personal pressures of their double life. Guilt, thankfully, doesn’t bog down the proceedings, but all four struggle to form meaningful relationships while keeping their secrets. The anti-corporate message, while not new, is artfully rendered: At one point a drugged-out Ben Hollingsworth drops the act and tells his new girlfriend that, “the only reason my so-called-family is having this party is to show off all their shit,” to which she responds, “sounds like something my parents would do.”
And so the million dollar premise turns into a thoughtful rumination on the million dollar lifestyle. Capitalism gets thumped on, sure, but the story is also honest enough to allow its characters some enjoyment in their excesses. After all, it’s fun to have cool stuff — and it’s normal to want more of it.
The problem, however, with all this healthy discourse on the invasive nature of capitalism, is that the audience is left wondering about the commercial agenda of the film itself. Product placements are everywhere, and while they get the meta-out of being “just to make a point,” Stella Artois still spends a ton of time onscreen, having its virtues touted and benefits enjoyed. Whether this was a self-aware layering of the film’s themes, or a shameless and self-defeating cash-in is left unclear. This doesn’t affect the enjoyment of The Joneses, but it does lead to lingering questions about the sincerity of its sentiment. At risk of giving first time writer/director Derrick Borte too much credit, perhaps that’s precisely the point.
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