People may joke about keeping up with the Joneses-the idyllic have-it-all family-but "The Joneses" film is a stark reminder of how susceptible we are to product placement and stealth marketing.
It may seem like an overdone or crazy concept, but "The Joneses" gives some seriously true insight into what happens when people sacrifice themselves in order to literally keep up with the Joneses.
Materialism wreaks havoc in "The Joneses"-a movie about a fake family that uses their perfection and beauty to stealthly market everything from golf clubs to hair accessories and food. The principle is simple-a corporation hires 'perfect' people to play 'perfect' rules and then places these 'perfect' families in various communities to sell, sell, sell. And the creepy part-it works!
Kate (Demi Moore) and Steve (David Duchovny) pretend to be a happily married couple with two cookie-cutter children, Jenn and Mick. Though they sell themselves well to their neighbors as the perfect family, all the characters have some kind of secret or predictable weakness.
First time writer and director Derrick Borte did an excellent job of showing what happens when the American dream becomes a twisted, soul-sucking race to own the best of the best, when the sense of self becomes solely dependent on material belongings.
However, Borte overdid it with all the drawn out scenes to show the audience that these fake people are real people, with real problems, too. In this day and age, I don't think the audience needs so many obvious reminders that white, suburban, picture-perfect appearances are often deceiving. And Demi Moore must have confused her role with acting. Like her robotic, desensitized character, watching Moore felt like watching a robot actress, too.
There could have been less of Moore, and several little scenes could have been cut but overall the movie was intriguing and funny. Funny in that sad reality check kind of way, like 'Wow, are we really that bad?'
Borte's idea has legitimacy, and "The Joneses" offers a fair glance at consumerism. What I enjoyed most was how the movie constantly made me wonder and debate, how close to reality is this story?
On the optimistic front, I'd say we're probably not as far gone as the Joneses. But optimism does not sell the same way products do.[[In-content Ad]]
