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“Keeping Up with the Joneses” is basically a revamp of the old Touchstone Pictures formula with some interesting underwear thrown into the mix for good measure. Touchstone, you will recall, was the Disney production entity that hit it big in the ‘80s by taking actors who were familiar faces but had either not yet proven their box-office potential or had slid from the heights they had once attained, sticking them in high-concept vehicles that could be easily summed up in a 30-second ad and which did not cost a lot to produce and then sat back and raked in the dough. Occasionally an excellent film would emerge (such as Paul Mazursky ’s hilarious “ Down and Out in Beverly Hills ,” Barry Levinson ’s wonderful “ Tin Men ” and Martin Scorsese ’s underrated “ The Color of Money ”), but, for the most part, the results were oftentimes kind of dumb, instantly forgettable (Ask yourself—when was the last time you actually thought about “ Outrageous Fortune ”?) and made you wish that you could see the participants in a project worthy of their talents. That is exactly the sensation I had while watching this film, a wildly inconsequential action comedy that contains a couple of genuine laughs but which otherwise feels like an extended version of its own television ads.

Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher star as Jeff and Karen Gaffney, an ordinary suburban couple who, having dropped off their kids for summer, are about to sink back into the comfortable rut that is their lives—he is the singularly unhelpful HR guy at a local aerospace plant who believes that there is no problem that cannot be solved with a rubber stress ball and she is an interior designer with what appears to be only a single client. (Don’t worry—the client’s requests are wacky.) Some interest is generated when the vacant house across the cul-de-sac is purchased by a mysterious buyer, and it quickly skyrockets when the new owners turn out to be Tim and Natalie Jones ( Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot ), an impossibly glamorous and accomplished pair who have traveled the world, done the most exciting things imaginable and have now chosen to settle down at last. Put it this way—Tim even blows his own glass for the knickknack that he presents Jeff and Karen as a gift.

The Joneses seem like the perfect neighbors at first, but Karen becomes suspicious after a neighborhood block party where Natalie is just a little too perfect for her own good, and she catches Tim snooping around in Jeff’s den. At first, Jeff shrugs off the suggestion that something could be off with his new friend, but they quickly come across proof that the Joneses are not who they claim to be. This revelation only gets them into the kind of trouble from which only Tim and Natalie can rescue them via a lengthy shootout and car chase before revealing that they are top secret government agents trying to ferret out someone who is trying to acquire top-secret computer chips that could prove to be dangerous in the wrong (i.e. non-U.S.) hands. And since this is a wacky comedy, it goes without saying that Jeff and Karen will find themselves playing a key part in this extraordinarily dangerous business even though it seems that it would have made more sense to simply have a couple of competent field agents take their places instead.

In essence, “Keeping Up with the Joneses” offers viewers a narrative that appears to have been constructed out of elements taken from Joe Dante ’s brilliant black comedy “The Burbs,” the somewhat less brilliant “ Central Intelligence ” and the recent run of “Sally Forth” strips in which she and her husband drop their spooky kid off at summer camp and then struggle to distract themselves from having to deal with spending more time with each other. As concepts go, this isn’t necessarily a horrible one but screenwriter Michael LeSieur never bothers to do much with it beyond employing the broadest possible strokes, and when he does hit upon something that looks as if it could be potentially fruitful—such as Jeff’s certainty that his bland platitudes contain real wisdom or Tim’s increasing disenchantment with his job and the fact that virtually everything about his life is literally a lie—he quickly abandons it for more of the silly stuff. In the past, director Greg Mottola has made such smart and engaging comedies as “ The Daytrippers ,” “ Superbad ” and “ Adventureland ,” and while his work here is smooth and professional enough, he never manages to figure out a way to make it into anything more than a very long episode of the kind of sitcom that only remains on the air because it is sandwiched between two infinitely more popular shows. And while it is never a good idea to attempt to apply real-world concerns to what is essentially cartoonish in nature, the unquestioning attitude that it displays towards spying (including a wacky scene in which people are threatened with torture in order to divulge information) is slightly off-putting.

The film has a good cast but it does none of them any favors. I confess that I am not exactly the biggest Zach Galifianakis fan around but I have enough appreciation for his oddball brand of humor to wonder what he is doing in a role that could have been easily filled by the likes of Kevin James without anyone noticing. Likewise, Isla Fisher can be very funny as well but her part here doesn’t really give her much of an opportunity to shine either. Gal Gadot may have been the only bearable thing in “Batman Vs. Superman” in her few scenes as Wonder Woman but she is kind of wasted here in a role in which her only remotely memorable scene is the one in which she stands around in sexy lingerie for several minutes. The one who comes off the closest to unscathed here is Jon Hamm, who has demonstrated his considerable comedic chops over the years via his appearances on “30 Rock” and “Saturday Night Live” and manages to make most of the material he has been given to work with here seem funnier than it actually is.

“Keeping Up with the Joneses” has a few mild laughs here and there—some of the otherwise rote dialogue is punctuated by amusingly weirdo curlicues and the revelation of the name of the film’s big villain is pretty funny despite the essential dopiness of the joke—and I have the feeling that it might wind up playing better on television, where all the sitcom trappings might seem more at home. As a prospect for going out one night and paying money for tickets and parking and popcorn in order to see it, however, it comes up decidedly short, and if any of your own neighbors suggest otherwise, you might want to begin looking upon them with what will be perfectly founded suspicion.

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around  bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

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Film Credits

Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, action/violence and brief strong language

105 minutes

Zach Galifianakis as Jeff Gaffney

Isla Fisher as Karen Gaffney

Gal Gadot as Natalie Jones

Jon Hamm as Tim Jones

Maribeth Monroe as Meg Craverston

Jona Xiao as Stacey Chung

Fred Galle as Jack

Matt Walsh as Dan Craverston

Patton Oswalt as Bruce

Kevin Dunn as Carl Pronger

• Greg Mottola
• Michael LeSieur

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Film Review: ‘Keeping Up With the Joneses’

Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher star in a domestic spycom that makes you wish Jon Hamm would land a movie worthy of him.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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No American actor has ever been cast in the role of James Bond. But given how often British actors are now hired to play Americans (do most audiences even know that performers from Carey Mulligan to Charlie Hunnam hail from across the pond?), the time may have come to break that tradition. Especially given that there’s an American who was put on earth to play Bond: Jon Hamm .

He’s positively Sean Connery-esque. Which is to say, Hamm is the rare actor who combines old-fashioned matinee-idol dash with an impossibly cool façade and a diamond hardness that would make him utterly convincing as a lethal existential cutthroat. (Could he do the whole British thing? Of course! He’s a fantastic actor.) Now don’t get me wrong: I worship Daniel Craig. But if he’s getting as tired of Bond as he has sometimes insinuated, why not let Hamm step right up? He looks like he could snap Tom Hiddleston in two. And if you want to imagine what Hamm might look like in the role, you get a bit of a light dry run watching him in “ Keeping Up With the Joneses ,” an amiable time killer of an espionage comedy that casts him as a U.S. government spy, married to another U.S. government spy, portrayed by Gal Gadot as a slightly more earthbound sort of wonder woman.

The two play Tim and Natalie Jones, who seem to have arrived from a planet of ridiculously great-looking Amazonian super-people. The Joneses have come to live on a nice little homey cul-de-sac in Atlanta, and from the moment they move in, it’s fairly obvious that they’re not what they seem. He claims to be a travel writer who blows glass for a hobby, and she’s a social-media consultant who fills up the rest of her calendar with charity work, sort of like the missing Kardashian of Middle America. The Israeli-born Gadot, here playing an Israeli-born American agent, knows how to carry herself like a regal dominatrix, but that gets old fast. She’s better in the few scenes where she’s allowed to relax into something playful and show off her Kate Bush smile.

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The Joneses are wizards at what they do, but the one thing they aren’t too good at is impersonating ordinary people. Yet they make a token effort to befriend the suburban-geek neighbors across the street: Jeff and Karen Gaffney, played by Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher . He’s an office-space drone who works as a human-resources counselor at MBI, an aerospace defense corporation, and she’s a freelance home-design consultant. (Yes, this is the sort of movie in which the real jobs sound as fake as the fake jobs.) The Gaffneys have sent their two boys away to camp for the summer, which means that they finally have the time to discover what utterly boring and sexless and inconsequential lives they lead.

Galifianakis, slimmed down and with a goatee, seems at first like a balsa-wood version of his former self. The original Galifianakis brand, after all, was built around the following things: major beard, major fusillades of nerdish word salad, major ability to come off as utterly certifiable. Yet the annoyingly gifted comic artist hasn’t disappeared. In “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” he’s more innocuous, but after a while you realize that Galifianakis is doing a satire of innocuousness. He’s playing a noodge with a heart of gold — a guy who genuinely wants to help people, and becomes more profoundly irritating every moment he tries to do so. Isla Fisher, as a woman who’d not only put up with this guy but stand by him, is the film’s perky center of sanity: the indomitable cuddlebug next door.

“Keeping Up With the Joneses” is a descendant of a genre that has no exact name yet dates back to “Fun with Dick and Jane” (1977), which is to say that the movie announces in every scene: “It’s comedy! It’s action! It’s far-fetched middle-class fantasy! About outrageously typical people! Who get yanked outside of the System! Yet remain typical!” There’s something likably daft yet third-rate about a movie whose thrust is to liberate folks from their depressing everyday roles — even as the running joke is that you can take the people out of their humdrum lives, but you can’t take the humdrum, etc. That said, the picture was directed by Greg Mottola, a sometimes great filmmaker (“Adventureland”) who attempts to bring a spark of humanity to everything he does, and there are moments he gets something going between the actors.

The Joneses have sham motives for approaching the Gaffneys, but when the two men team up for a Chinese lunch, and Tim takes Jeff to a hidden bunker of a place that specializes in serving freshly killed snake, the film’s comic energy gets revved. Galifianakis and Hamm really play off each other — they’re utterly opposite control freaks, and the bromance that emerges is so mismatched that it attains a surreal logic. Hamm is at his best taking no prisoners, but at one point Tim confides to Jeff that he sometimes hates his job. I was hoping this was a bit of a con on his part, but no: Tim is a secret agent in the middle of a career crisis, one that has spilled over into his marriage.

The Joneses are supposed to be a real couple, bonded in love and espionage (and the fact that they’re inevitably the tallest glamour-pusses in the room), but the script, a real cookie-cutter job by Michael LeSieur (“You, Me and Depree”), makes the mistake of turning Hamm’s icy hotshot into a secret schmo. It seems to violate the film’s basic design when Tim, at a diner after a shootout, blows the couple’s cover simply because he’s feeling a little crestfallen. Besides, who wants to see a crestfallen Jon Hamm? The actor seems more than game to undercut his image, and he’s pretty sly about it, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that there was a little executive bird perched on someone’s shoulder chirping, “You’ve got to make him more relatable.” Earth to movie executives: This is not what Jon Hamm should be doing! He’s the rare actor who combines intelligence and danger. He deserves better than playing the good sport about his post-“Mad Men” career options by clowning around in piffle like this.

Motorcycle chases, blazing firearms, shattered plate-glass windows: “Keeping Up With the Joneses” delivers its ritual quota of action as it checks off every squares-meet-the-suaves domestic-spy-comedy box. It all culminates in an elaborate sting operation designed to ensnare a mysterious arms dealer, played by the last actor you’d expect to see playing a mysterious arms dealer. Which means that, like everything else in “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” he’s exactly what you’d expect.

Reviewed at Regal E-Walk, October 13, 2016. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 105 MIN.

• Production: A 20th Century Fox release of a Fox 2000 Pictures, Parkes + MacDonald, Image Nation, and TSG Entertainment production. Producers: Michael LeSieur, Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes. Executive producers: Timothy M. Bourne, Evan Hayes.
• Crew: Director: Greg Mottola. Screenplay: Michael LeSieur. Camera (color, widescreen): Andrew Dunn. Editor: David Rennie.
• With: Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher, Gal Gadot, Matt Walsh, Maribeth Monroe, Patton Oswalt.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Keeping Up with the Joneses

A suburban couple becomes embroiled in an international espionage plot when they discover that their seemingly perfect new neighbors are government spies. A suburban couple becomes embroiled in an international espionage plot when they discover that their seemingly perfect new neighbors are government spies. A suburban couple becomes embroiled in an international espionage plot when they discover that their seemingly perfect new neighbors are government spies.

• Greg Mottola
• Michael LeSieur
• Zach Galifianakis
• Isla Fisher
• 135 User reviews
• 114 Critic reviews
• 34 Metascore
• 3 nominations

• Jeff Gaffney

• Karen Gaffney

• Natalie Jones

• Scorpion's Girlfriend

• Dan Craverston

• Meg Craverston

• Carl Pronger

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Was originally envisioned as a sequel to Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) after that films TV series continuation/pilot failed to be picked up; however the idea was scrapped when Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie turned down the offer with both stars feeling the original idea was not good enough.
• Goofs In the motorcycle chasing scene , at the time they leave the warehouse while they driving in reverse they hit the rear bumper badly with ground and its broke from both side , when they return to their house after the breakfast the rear bumper was just fine.

Natalie Jones : How could you not tell me you were feeling this way?

Tim Jones : Well, look... to be honest, you are not exactly the easiest woman in the world for a man to admit his fears to.

Natalie Jones : [stunned and angry] What? How can you say that to me? I'm compassionate and sensitive. You can say anything to me.

Natalie Jones : [in Hebrew] Tafsik lihiot kaze nekeva kol hazman!

[= stop acting like a pussy all the time!]

Tim Jones : Well, calling me a pussy in Hebrew is not helping things.

[Tim drops the keys on the table. Suddenly, his foot hits something. He looks down and notices a tripwire]

Tim Jones : [quietly] Run.

[Tim and Natalie run and jump through the window. A second later, the whole house explodes]

• Connections Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Jon Hamm/Colleen Ballinger/Kings of Leon (2016)
• Soundtracks Can You Do This Written by Aloe Blacc , DJ Khalil (as Khalil Abdul-Rahman), Chin Injeti (as Pranam Injeti) and Daniel Tannenbaum Performed by Aloe Blacc Courtesy of Interscope Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 135

• Jan 8, 2017
• How long is Keeping Up with the Joneses? Powered by Alexa
• October 21, 2016 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official Instagram
• Hàng Xóm Tôi Là Đặc Vụ
• Hyatt Regency Atlanta - 265 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Odyssey Hotel)
• Fox 2000 Pictures
• Parkes/MacDonald Image Nation
• TSG Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $40,000,000 (estimated)
• $14,904,426
• Oct 23, 2016
• $29,918,745

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 45 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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‘keeping up with the joneses’: film review.

'Keeping Up With the Joneses,' the latest comedy from Greg Mottola ('Adventureland,' 'Superbad'), stars Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher as a married couple who suspect their new neighbors (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot) of being spies.

By Jon Frosch

Senior Editor, Reviews

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Greg Mottola has made some fine contributions to big-screen comedy — including sweet-and-salty teen flicks Adventureland and Superbad — but his new film, Keeping Up With the Joneses , is decidedly not one of them.

Stale as week-old bread and every bit as bland, the movie saddles a strong cast with a groaningly ineffectual script (courtesy of Michael LeSieur , who wrote 2006’s You, Me and Dupree ) and wastes the director’s gift for bringing lived-in charm and feeling to broad comic premises. It’s been obvious for a while now, but bears repeating: At a time when we’re spoiled with satisfyingly funny small-screen options, laugh-challenged multiplex fare like Keeping Up With the Joneses just doesn’t cut it. Why shell out 15 bucks for this junk if you can tune into the latest season of Black-ish , check out new gems like HBO’s Insecure , FX’s Better Things and Amazon’s Fleabag , or just google Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump on SNL ? Even by standards of low-IQ escapism, the film falls short. At least Masterminds , another recent goof-fest headlined by Keeping Up With the Joneses star Zach Galifianakis , gave the actor an epically awful pageboy hairdo to divert our attention from its disappointments.

Release date: Oct 21, 2016

Mottola’s movie wasn’t without potential. There’s an appealing quaintness to its story of a married couple who become convinced their glamorous neighbors are spies. Unlike most studio comedies these days, Keeping Up With the Joneses isn’t brashly vulgar, nor does it try, aside from a lame Caitlyn Jenner joke, to be zeitgeisty . The problem is that it doesn’t really try at all. Imagine Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery plus I Love You, Man , multiplied by Mr. & Mrs. Smith , divided by TV series The Americans . Minus all the wit, spark and deftness.

Jeff and Karen Gaffney ( Galifianakis and Isla Fisher ) enjoy a life of comfortable if numbing suburban averageness in the Atlanta area. He’s a straight-arrow HR manager who cheerfully submits employees to asinine trust games and conflict resolution exercises. She’s a perky interior decorator suffering from a lack of inspiration. With their kids at camp for the summer, Jeff and Karen vow to spend some quality time together, but empty-nest syndrome starts to take hold.

That’s when distraction, and possibly danger, arrives in the genetically blessed forms of Tim and Natalie Jones (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot ), who move into the house next door. Tim, a travel writer, speaks multiple languages and has a head of hair made for shampoo commercials. His wife Natalie is a social media editor and food blogger with runway-ready legs and cheekbones for days. Jeff and Tim begin a tentative bromance — dorky Jeff seems flattered that the suave, casually macho Tim even acknowledges his existence — but Karen decides that “there’s something off” about the Joneses . When she finds Tim snooping around upstairs during a barbecue hosted by the Gaffneys , she sets out to do some snooping of her own.

Thuddingly obvious hijinks ensue as Karen, “incognito” in a hat and sunglasses, follows Natalie around town — an operation that concludes with the two women facing off in a lingerie store dressing room. (The movie’s use of lesbian “tension” to titillate and amuse, culminating in an especially depressing girl-on-girl kiss, feels dated and desperate.)

Mottola and LeSieur fumble the big set pieces, including a sequence that finds the Gaffneys breaking into the Jones residence to look for clues; the rhythm is off, the jokes don’t land, the gags are sluggish and unimaginative. You know things are dire when one of the most amusing bits consists of Jeff accidentally smashing Karen’s head into a wall. Even scenes that have a flicker of comic invention — as when, toward the end of the film, the Joneses start bickering at a diner, the sexy, unflappable twosome momentarily unraveled by the same neuroses that haunt normal couples — peter out before they get good.

Galifianakis , in what might be described as the Will Ferrell role, has a few giggle-worthy lines (sitting down at an underground Chinese eatery, he marvels, “Look at all these little ethnic condiments!”). But it’s safe to say the actor is better at playing creepy man-children than regular squares. He and the always likeable Fisher pull faces and do pratfalls, throwing their considerable skill and timing at material that, apart from a throwaway touch or two (there’s a good quip about crooked British teeth), is essentially irredeemable.

Hamm offers up a breezy variation on his tormented Mad Men protagonist Don Draper, and he’s a pleasure — the only one who doesn’t seem to be trying too hard. Gadot looks fittingly stunning and bad-ass, though on the basis of her work here, comedy may not be her strong suit.

The sparse supporting cast includes Veep ‘s terrific Matt Walsh, an inadvertent reminder of how much more fun we could be having watching something else.

Distributor: Fox Production companies: A Fox 2000 Pictures and Parkes +MacDonald Image Nation production Cast: Zach Galifianakis , Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot , Maribeth Monroe, Matt Walsh, Patton Oswalt Director: Greg Mottola Writer: Michael LeSieur Producers: Walter F. Parkes , Laurie MacDonald Executive producers: Timothy M. Bourne Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn Production designer: Mark Ricker Editor: David Rennie Costume designer: Ruth Carter Music: Jake Monaco

Rated PG-13, 101 minutes

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Keeping Up With the Joneses Reviews

Dopey but fairly entertaining.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2024

A picture graced with four bright performances but hampered by a plot that felt recycled even back when Millard Fillmore was president.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 18, 2021

Will make you jones for laughs and action.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 3, 2021

The one-liner riffs keep rolling out throughout the entire picture, but with the same tepidness as the start.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | Dec 5, 2020

It's charming and kind-hearted to the extreme, with enough comedy nerd cameos to keep fanboys on alert.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2020

Is it reinventing the espionage comedy? No. It is, however, fun and light, and has very pretty people being funny. Do we really need more than that in a date film right now?

Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 21, 2019

A spy adventure that despite being powered by an impressive, talented cast, is disappointingly dull and devoid of any significant laughs.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 22, 2019

[Keeping Up with the Joneses] is an uneven movie that relies too heavily on its dynamic cast to its considerable detriment.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 14, 2019

Overall, the film just feels like the writers and crew just gave up.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2019

I am not sure why people still think Zach Galifianakis is funny...

Full Review | Nov 12, 2018

...an espionage action-comedy that meanders in its broad banality...is enough reason to have Keeping Up with the Joneses classified as an aborted mission to a lesser degree.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 9, 2018

This is a comedy that's in desperate need of its own identity and Mottola can't find that identity even with the spirited performance of Galifianakis.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 1, 2018

There's nothing remotely charming about "Keeping Up with the Joneses," no moment that'll make all the bad ones feel less so. It's flat, dull, and ridiculous.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 22, 2018

The dialogue feels clunky and forced, like you're watching an hour and a half long improv set where nobody really knows where the script is going and everyone's just rolling with it.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2018

All in all, this movie is just sort of nothing. It's not going to make you angry that it exists, but it's not gonna make you happy either. It simply occupies space and time, but leaves no real effect on you.

Full Review | May 9, 2018

With such a decent cast, the film does have its comic moments but the material seems stretched, the budget limited and the end result quickly forgettable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2017

Keeping Up with the Joneses is not a good movie-it's dumb, boring, and predictable-but it's stacked with an excellent cast, dozens of chuckles, and a handful of legitimately brilliant LOLs.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2017

Instantly forgettable.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jan 1, 2017

Viewers who can't get enough of Galifianakis or Hamm will enjoy seeing the two spar onscreen, delivering in spades the unexpected phrasing and smoldering smirks each actor does so well.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Dec 19, 2016

Despite being directed by Gregg Mottola (Superbad, Paul), the comic scenes play out with often banal interplay that barely has a whiff of improvised mayhem, while the action sequences are essentially generic.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 9, 2016

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Keeping Up With the Joneses review – curtain twitching comedy raises odd snicker

There’s more lingerie than laughs in this dull meet-the-sexy-superspy-neighbours actioner

T he umpteenth runout for the old suburban-squares-versus-sexy-superspies plot unfolds in predictable fashion. Isla Fisher and a newly svelte Zach Galifianakis commence curtain-twitching with the arrival of glam neighbours Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot. Covers are blown in modestly budgeted action setpieces; everyone exits feeling shortchanged in the laughter department. The shopworn conceit begs lampooning, yet director Greg Mottola – seeking a return to the studios’ better graces seven years on from Adventureland – plays matters blandly straight. The leads huff and puff accordingly, but Michael LeSieur’s dull-edged script squanders their timing, more concerned with reducing the actresses to their lingerie than with raising anything other than the occasional snicker.

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• Zach Galifianakis
• Action and adventure films
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Bad boys 4 has already repeated the franchise's best $426 million trick, horizon movie update makes us feel better about kevin costner choosing his new western over yellowstone, despite a fun premise, keeping up with the joneses is a mildly entertaining comedy that's very generic..

Sending their kids off to summer camp, happily married couple Jeff (Zach Galifianakis) and Karen Gaffney (Isla Fisher) have the house all to themselves for the first time in years. As they look for a way to break free of their mundane routines, the two become intrigued by new neighbors who move in across the street - Tim (Jon Hamm) and Natalie Jones (Gal Gadot). Claiming they are ready to settle down in suburbia after a life of traveling the world, Tim and Natalie quickly integrate into the tight-knit cul de sac community, impressing many with their skills and stories.

While Jeff is enamored by the prospect of being friends with people who are so "cool," Karen becomes suspicious of the Joneses, believing that they're too perfect and accomplished to call their neighborhood home. One night when the Joneses are out, Jeff and Karen sneak into their neighbors' house and discover that Tim and Natalie are government spies investigating the aerospace company that Jeff works for. Through a series of events, Jeff and Karen become a part of an espionage plot and have to help the Joneses accomplish their mission before American security is compromised.

The latest film from director Greg Mottola ( Superbad, Adventureland ),  Keeping Up with the Joneses is the filmmaker's attempt to bring his brand of humor to the tried and true action/comedy genre. Mottola has had a great deal of success crafting films that strike an emotional chord with the audience while also serving up plenty of laughs. Unfortunately, this offering is not nearly as polished as some of his other works. Despite a fun premise,  Keeping Up with the Joneses is a mildly entertaining comedy that's very generic.

One of the biggest letdowns in the movie is the screenplay by Michael LeSieur, which takes way too long to kick into gear.  Keeping Up with the Joneses takes its time getting to the spy element, wasting significant portions of the early sections on a mystery subplot in which Jeff and (mainly) Karen try to discover the truth about their neighbors. The problem with this approach is that many in the audience will already be aware of Tim and Natalie's profession, so the first act is extremely non-engaging and struggles to connect. Additionally, the film does not immediately present a reason for the Gaffneys to be skeptical of their neighbors' intentions (outside of Karen's own paranoia), so their actions in the beginning are convenient for the story instead of being natural. LeSieur might have been better served placing the focus on Tim and Natalie trying to blend into middle-class suburbia (and solve a more intriguing mystery), but placing Galifianakis and Fisher front and center does lead to some amusing fish-out-of-water scenarios.

Besides a poor setup,  Keeping Up with the Joneses is also hampered by its reluctance to develop any of the ideas it presents. The script toys with some interesting concepts that could have added layers to the film (i.e. Tim hates his job, the Joneses have communication problems in their marriage), but never goes beyond the surface level. Jeff and Tim do get some nice moments together where it looks like a friendship is being formed, but many attempts to flesh out the dynamic between the Gaffneys and the Joneses are hollow. The sentimental beats the movie tries to hit are not very successful, meaning the ultimate arc of the story is unsatisfying. If the first act was more about the Gaffneys bonding with their new neighbors (instead of snooping around), then  Keeping Up with the Joneses could have (slightly) tugged at the heartstrings. As it is, the story is very by-the-numbers and doesn't bring much new to the table.

None of the performances in the main ensemble are exactly groundbreaking, but the standouts are arguably Galifianakis and Hamm. The former may be typecast here as the socially awkward everyman, but the actor is a good fit for the role and gets to display his comedic talents, including some physical bits that are worth a chuckle. As stated above, his scenes with Hamm are somewhat entertaining, giving the movie an odd couple pairing that (at times too on-the-nose) pokes fun at their vast differences. Tim is perhaps the character with the most "depth," providing Hamm with a variety of material with which to work. He does a good job with the action sequences, and Hamm elevates what's on the page to make Tim a sincere figure.

Unfortunately, the leading ladies aren't giving much to do. Gadot is fine as a steely, determined, and no-nonsense spy, but that's all there is to her character. Like Hamm, Gadot is solid during the set pieces, but nothing here is going to further excite DC fans about her upcoming  Wonder Woman standalone movie. Likewise, Fisher's Karen amounts to little more than the bored suburban mom stock character who gets caught up in an extraordinary situation. If LeSieur and Mottola tried to do more with their characters than make them two-dimensional, they could have had something fun. But since viewers will have trouble caring about the cast, the movie is fairly disposable.

In the end,  Keeping Up with the Joneses  had the potential to be a solidly entertaining effort, but the script's shortcomings are too much for it to overcome. It's an action/comedy that doesn't offer much of either, plodding along and going through the motions until it reaches its conclusion, lacking the heart and substance that Mottola's other films have had. Even those moviegoers intrigued by the marketing would probably be better off waiting for home media, since the final product has very little to offer to warrant the full price of admission.

Keeping Up with the Joneses is now playing in U.S. theaters. It runs 105 minutes and is Rated PG-13 for sexual content, action/violence, and brief strong language.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments section!

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‘Keeping Up with the Joneses’ Review: A Sitcom Episode Coming to a Theatre Near You

You could stay home and get the same level of comedy and action you get on TV.

In the era of “Peak TV”, movies have to work harder. For some films, that means just going bigger and offering a level of spectacle that most television shows can’t hope to match. They take full advantage of the big screen and promise to give you your money’s worth. Other films try to tackle subject material that’s immediate enough to not require ten hours of programming, but also complex enough that you really want to be immersed in the topic. That leaves comedies in a tricky position because unless you’re going for an R-rating, then the kind of jokes you’re supplying are readily available on network television.

While it may promise some action bombast and movie stars, Greg Mottola ’s Keeping Up with the Joneses basically operates at the level of a network sitcom, and not a critically acclaimed one like Black-ish or Fresh Off the Boat . More like a CBS comedy where you keep expecting a laughtrack to come in to remind you to chuckle when our hapless protagonists get in over their heads. And that kind of comedy has its place. There were moments where I laughed at Keeping Up with the Joneses , but I saw the film less than a week ago, and I’m struggling to remember anything that happened in it. It’s disposable entertainment of the lowest order.

Jeff ( Zach Galifianakis ) and Karen Gaffney ( Isla Fisher ) are content living boring lives in suburbia, and they happily welcome their charming new neighbors, Tim ( Jon Hamm ) and Natalie Jones ( Gal Gadot ). While Jeff sees the opportunity to make a new friend in Tim and possibly a partner for indoor skydiving, Karen is somewhat suspicious of the Joneses. Karen’s suspicions are confirmed when they discover that the gift they received from the Joneses had a listening device in it. Eventually, Tim and Natalie are forced to not only come clean with the Gaffneys, but also end up recruiting them into their top-secret mission to stop an arms dealer known as The Scorpion.

If you want a movie that won’t challenge or surprise you in any way, shape, or form, then Keeping Up with the Joneses has a purpose, and there’s a purpose for movies like Keeping Up with the Joneses. While I’m not a believer in “turn off your brain” movies, I also accept that there are people who have hard, difficult lives, and maybe they don’t want to then spend money to find further challenges at the multiplex. There’s a place for softball comedy that Keeping Up with the Joneses has to offer.

And that place is on television. If you’re going to make a movie that celebrates suburbanites and suburban living and makes Jeff and Karen into heroes even though there’s nothing even remotely heroic about them, then why demand that your audience get in a car, pay for an overpriced ticket, sit through twenty minutes of trailers, and then get a movie that gives them the same level of jokes they can get if they just turn on network TV during primetime?

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Keeping Up with the Joneses . It’s not offensive beyond some off-color jokes made by Jeff, and it’s not like it’s painfully unfunny. The cast has good chemistry, and I would like to see them together again in a better movie. As it stands, they’re in a movie that could be done in about 22 minutes plus commercials.

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Keeping Up With The Joneses

• Action/Adventure , Comedy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• October 21, 2016
• Zach Galifianakis as Jeff Gaffney; Isla Fisher as Karen Gaffney; Gal Gadot as Natalie Jones; Jon Hamm as Tim Jones; Matt Walsh as Dan Craverston; Patton Oswalt as Bruce/Scorpion

Home Release Date

• January 17, 2017
• Greg Mottola

Distributor

• 20th Century Fox

Movie Review

Jeff and Karen Gaffney see themselves as a pretty typical couple living a pretty typical life. Jeff works in the HR department at a local tech company. Karen does some home decorating as a small business. They’ve got two kids and a nice little home on a quiet little cul-de-sac.

Their relationship is solid. OK, things aren’t necessarily exciting in the romance department, but that’s typical between married couples, right? Well, Jeff and Karen think so anyway.

Then the Joneses arrive.

This absolutely beautiful couple moves into their neighborhood and instantly shakes everything up. He’s handsome and charming and hopscotches all over the world as a travel writer. She’s stunning, wears the latest fashions and has her own culinary blog. They’re both so loving, sophisticated and stylish. And did I mention they’re gorgeous?

To Karen, these two are just too, too, too … whatever they are. Nobody’s this perfect. And why would a couple like this move into their neighborhood?

So Karen starts keeping an eye on the Joneses, and she notices some pretty peculiar activities: furtive glances, late-night drives, quickly hidden briefcases. Why, they even grab each other and exchange a passionate kiss when they think no one else is looking. For no reason at all!

Now, Jeff thinks Karen’s lost it. But she’s pretty sure these Joneses are up to something. They could be spies. They look like spies. Well, spies in spy movies anyway, but still.

Jeff points out that the only real spying he’s seen is what Karen’s doing. The truth is, he tells her, he and Tim Jones have really hit it off as friends lately. And Tim’s a pretty great guy, if you ask Jeff.

But what does Jeff know? He’s just an unobservant HR employee who works at a local tech company that makes special government-contract microchips and stuff. Karen is sure Jeff wouldn’t notice if “good old Tim” just waltzed right up to Jeff’s office and … oh my goodness, stole something!

Positive Elements

Keeping Up With the Joneses lightly underscores the fact that honestly and healthy communication are positive traits to possess, both in life and in a marriage. Tim says he hates his spy job and actually wishes in some ways that he could be more like the straightforward and honest Jeff. And the Joneses’ experience with the Gaffneys prompts the spy couple to discuss the weak points in their own marriage. The Joneses also ignore their superior’s orders and enter into a deadly situation to help the Gaffneys.

Spiritual Elements

Jeff exclaims, “Sweet Mary and Joseph!” upon seeing Karen in a sexy outfit.

Sexual Content

When their two boys go off to camp, Karen and Jeff’s friends make saucy jokes about all the ways the Gaffneys can now spice up their love life. Karen and Jeff imagine what that would look like—from impromptu make-out-sessions on the kitchen table to naked-under-a-blanket intimacy in front of a roaring fire. In one of those imagined moments, Karen pours hot wax on Jeff’s bare chest. Later, Jeff and Karen have sex, off screen, and we hear them briefly through a planted microphone bug.

Karen tracks Natalie to a department store where Natalie confronts her wearing skimpy lingerie. Later we see Karen in a bustier and a tight dress that emphasize her cleavage.

Tim and Natalie embrace and kiss. We also see Natalie in some other revealing outfits. A neighbor calls one of Natalie’s bare-back dresses “pornographic.” And that woman’s husband tries to take a photo of Natalie up under that dress.

Someone goes through Jeff’s office computer, and the camera notes a Google search for “penis enlargement.” We hear that a particular kind of alcohol will effect a man’s sexual prowess. Karen notes that Jeff once had a “man crush” on Bruce Jenner. Natalie discusses the effects of her Kegel exercises. When accidentally given a drug, Karen gets drunkenly amorous with her hubby. Karen kisses Natalie in order to distract their captors and covertly pass something to her.

Violent Content

This is a spy spoof, so there are several obligatory shoot-’em-up scenes. One man gets shot in the forehead by a sniper. Armed bikers chase the Joneses and Gaffneys, riddling their vehicle with bullet holes. Motorcyclists are shot, run into walls and other vehicles, and sent flying in explosions. Another battle involves Tim and Natalie systematically gunning down a dozen or so heavily armed thugs and blowing up an entire floor of a hotel.

A massive explosion destroys a house. Someone’s living room goes up in flames. Natalie threatens to torture a man with a blow torch. Jeff is repeatedly slammed around in slapstick falls and tumbles. And after Karen is left semi-senseless by a drugged dart, she’s dropped and thumped about, too. Two men punch each other during one of Jeff’s HR exercises.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word and four s-words join a couple of uses each of “d–n,” “a–” and “h—.” There are six misuses of Jesus’ name and another 15 or so of God’s name (three of which are combined with “d–n”).

Drug and Alcohol Content

Several people drink beer at different gatherings. And at a neighborhood “Junetoberfest” block party, local residents imbibe various beers and mixed drinks. Tim and Jeff go to a secretive club, and Jeff gets quite inebriated a bottle of liquor with a cobra in it. He’s also bitten by a highly venomous snake and is then injected with a potent anti-venom. Jeff and Karen puff on a hookah. As mentioned, Karen’s hit by a tranquilizer dart.

Other Negative Elements

A man lets his dogs leave two large deposits on a neighbor’s lawn. Jeff makes some racially insensitive remarks. Someone steals a passcode and breaks into an office. Jeff and Karen break into a neighbor’s house.

Like most people, I enjoy a good laugh. And, let’s face it, there are a number of wonderful ways that a funny cinematic bit can grab you: from slapstick silliness to an oh-my-goodness-I-didn’t-see-that-coming twist.

Unfortunately, some funny flicks weave a little too much yuck in with their yuk-yuk. Before you know it, a guffaw becomes an “ Are the kids watching this?” wince.

Keeping Up With The Joneses is one of those movies.

On the one hand, this pic’s players are all perfectly cast. They’re amusing and winsome. And this spy spoof tale has just the right mix of scheming skullduggery, neighborhood inanity and preposterous pratfalls—even some nice messages about honesty and family.

But on the other hand, there’s just too much that’s ribald and the profane here to be able to fully enjoy the experience.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Keeping Up with the Joneses Rises Well above Par

• Debbie Holloway Contributing Writer
• Updated Jan 15, 2017

A simple suburban couple gets caught up in the wildest ride of their lives when they discover their too-perfect neighbors are leading a dangerous double life. The brilliant cast turns an otherwise simple story into a solid 3.5 out of 5 star flick.  

Jeff and Karen Gaffney ( Zach Galifianakis , Isla Fisher ) lead a quintessentially contented, mild, suburban lifestyle. After seeing their two beloved boys off to summer camp, they are left to themselves for the first time in many years - just in time for an unexpected adventure. A mysterious, sexy couple has moved in next door. Relational Jeff is determined to make friends with the dashing Tim Jones ( Jon Hamm ) and intuitional Karen thinks they're hiding something, and starts trailing Natalie Jones ( Gal Gadot ) for clues. Eventually they discover the Joneses do top-secret work for the government, and the two couples bond with each other (and their spouses) as they try to complete the mission and stay alive.  

What Works?

What doesn't.

Keeping Up with the Joneses   is 100 percent a genre popcorn flick: nothing particularly innovative or stylish about the story or execution. There are recognizable tropes and common cliches, the framing of the film is fairly predictable, and it's filled with spy-like hijinks and the mandatory car chase. However, the charm and genuine comedic talent of the cast will make it easy for many to settle in and enjoy, without passing too much judgment.  

Christian Worldview Elements / Spiritual Themes

Cautions (may contain spoilers).

• MPAA Rating:  Rated PG-13 for sexual content, action/violence and brief strong language 
• Language/Profanity : The F word is used once, in addition to a few instances of milder curse words and phrases like "for Christ’s sake."
• Sexuality/Nudity : There is a fair amount of sex discussion, as most of the characters are married couples. A couple teases another couple about having sex. A couple daydreams about kissing passionately and having sex under blankets (nothing is shown). Women wear tight dresses which reveal cleavage. Two women share a scene in a lingerie dressing room only partially dressed, and a woman later wears lingerie for her husband. A man overhears another couple having sex.
• Violence/Frightening/Intense : Some spy action and violence: gunfire, and a few people being shot or stabbed, but no prolonged shots or graphic violence. A man cuts his hand on a bottle and blood is shown. A man is bit by a snake (sort of) and must be stabbed with an anti-venom syringe.
• Drugs/Alcohol : Two men in a bar get drunk. A woman is briefly drugged with a tranquilizer.  

The Bottom Line

RECOMMENDED FOR:  Married couples seeking a fun date night; those with an affinity for Zach Galifianakis.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR:  Harsh critics of action movies who want something truly innovative in plotlines and gunfights. Those uncomfortable with sexy and skimpy outfits, even in the context of married couples.

Keeping Up with the Joneses,  directed by  Greg Mottola , opened in theaters October 21, 2016; available for home viewing January 17, 2017. It runs  105 minutes and stars Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot, Patton Oswalt, Matt Walsh, and Maribeth Monroe . Watch the trailer for Keeping Up with the Joneses here .  

Debbie Holloway is a storyteller, creator, critic and advocate having adventures in Brooklyn, New York.

Publication date : October 21, 2016

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Keeping Up With The Joneses Review

21 Oct 2016

Keeping Up With The Joneses

There’s a great comedy to be made about a nice guy who starts to suspect that his new next-door neighbours are up to no good, and whose resultant paranoia leads to an explosive escalation of events that threatens his marriage, his home, and his life.

And it already exists. It’s Joe Dante’s The ’Burbs , not Greg Mottola’s Keeping Up With The Joneses , a rather muddled effort which doesn’t even begin to explore the comedic potential of its premise: what would you do if you lived next to two super-spies who might be out to kill you?

The problem here is in comedic tension, or the lack thereof. The question of whether Hamm and Gadot’s cool, sexy Joneses, who’ve moved next door to Galifianakis and Fisher’s staid, safe Jeff and Karen Gaffney, are super-spies is resolved fairly quickly (no prizes for guessing that they are). From that point on, it’s all about their true intentions as they inveigle their way into the Gaffneys’ life — are they John and Jane Bond, good guys sent to protect them? Or John and Jane Smith, murderous assassins sent to glean crucial info before offing them?

The film is plagued by the spectre that haunts so much modern American comedy: improvisation.

There’s perhaps a version of this movie where we never find out until the last reel, and where comedy springs naturally from the tension as Galifianakis and Fisher, suspicions aroused, poke into their neighbours’ affairs. But, perhaps because the Joneses are played by two major movie stars who demand a fair chunk of screen time, that never quite happens. Instead, we get a series of mildly amusing sequences where the Gaffneys bond with the Joneses over a drunken encounter at a clandestine snake restaurant (yes, the men), or a weird moment trying on sexy underwear in a shopping-mall changing room (yes, the women). There’s nothing surprising or unexpected about these scenes — does exposure to the Gaffneys awaken a yearning in the Joneses for the more mundane aspects of life? You betcha. In turn, do the Gaffneys find the spark their slightly dull marriage needs? Take a wild guess.

There are some chuckles — Gadot has a few good zingers poking fun at her ridiculous good looks (“Just because I don’t need to moisturise doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings”). Otherwise, though, the overwhelming feeling is that the film is plagued by the spectre that haunts so much modern American comedy: improvisation. There is a script (by Michael LeSieur) — there has to be with a comedy this plot-heavy — but all too often there’s a feeling that the cast are floundering around, left to fend for themselves and find the punchlines. It’s a waste of some excellent comedic talent, including Fisher, Matt Walsh (from Veep ), and Hamm, who has been hilarious on the likes of 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live . But nowhere is the sense of an opportunity missed stronger than with Galifianakis, who’s straitjacketed in a role as a loveable schlub. Galifianakis is an actor who revels in anarchy; here, he’s reduced to watching the anarchy unfold from the periphery, and you can almost sense his palpable frustration.

If the comedy in an action-comedy doesn’t quite deliver, then everything depends on the action. Mottola’s handled booms and bangs before, notably in Paul, but an extended set-piece featuring cars, bikes and lots of screaming fails to excite, while the final face-off is as humdrum as they come. It’s just a shame the action is ham-fisted when it should have been Hamm-fisted.

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Movie Review: Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)

• Frank Ochieng
• Movie Reviews
• One response
• --> October 29, 2016

What a squandered opportunity for director Greg Mottola to churn out a generically noisy suburban spy spoof in the toothless comedy caper Keeping Up with the Joneses . Woefully strained and exhaustive, Mottola’s off-kilter espionage bag of cheap chuckles barely manages to scrape off a scattered selection of smirks here and there. It never takes full advantage of its intended gimmick as taking a pseudo-hearty potshot at American suburbia and meshing its weak-kneed tomfoolery with a conventional government operative farce can instead be dubbed as “Mission: Improbable.” The obviousness of this bland and inconsequential laugher is inexcusable given the pedigree of this particular filmmaker who has blessed movie audiences previously with shrewd and rollicking fare such as “ Superbad ,” “Adventureland” and “The Daytrippers.”

Mottola with screenwriter Michael LeSieur (“ You, Me and Dupree ”) struggle to keep the anemic laughs afloat which is quite puzzling given the inclusion of powerhouse huckster Zach Galifianakis (“ The Hangover ” ) and the charming and debonair Jon Hamm (Emmy award winner for “Mad Men”). In fact, both Galifianakis and Hamm are somewhat true blue to their familiar on-screen personas here, but the meager material literally lets them down in a pile of sluggish wittiness that rarely registers on its hit-or-miss meter of hilarity. With feminine anchors Gal Gadot (“ Wonder Woman ”) and Isla Fisher (gloriously remembered as the goofy-minded sexpot in 2005’s “ Wedding Crashers ”) rounding out the quartet of off-balanced spying suburbanites, the manufactured shenanigans in Keeping Up with the Joneses will certainly beg for the nostalgic nuttiness that was Brangelina’s noted pairing in the better received “ Mr. & Mrs. Smith ” from over a decade ago.

The marital malaise is quite evident between marrieds Jeff (Galifianakis) and Karen Gaffney (Fisher). While their kids are off to camp the uneventful couple has nothing better to do than to undergo surveillance tactics as they focus their curiosities on the super attractive neighbors Tim and Natalie Jones (Hamm and Gadot) who had just moved into their cozy cul-de-sac surroundings. Both Tim and Natalie seem too good to be true in terms of their polished appearances, both personally and professionally and naturally, there is no comparison to be remotely made to the middle-aged and slightly cherubic HR aerospace manager Tim and ditzy Natalie. After all, handsome and fit Tim is a Chinese-speaking travel writer and gorgeous and curvaceous Natalie oversees a successful cooking website with a special attachment for neglected children. Of course little do the Gaffneys realize is that the impeccable Joneses are . . . gasp . . . seasoned undercover agents infiltrating their all-American suburban haven.

Apparently, Karen harbors some cynicism about the larger-than-life Joneses that just does not sit right with her. Jeff, on the other hand, gets a kick out of the dashing Tim and seems rather grateful that this smooth operator has paid him some attention, thus gaining him an unexpected friendship to counter his seemingly dull and lonely existence in a manicured neighborhood that is not as idyllic as it really seems. However, Jeff finally comes to the conclusion that there is something awfully peculiar about the Joneses and that Karen may have been correct about all along. The Gaffneys are soon drawn into an intriguing ribaldry with the slick international operatives and just as soon, random explosions, daring window-crashing leaps, colorful motorcycling chases are wildly presented between clumsy social gatherings at backyard barbecues and lingerie-fitting moments between the wives. The cartoonish carnage feels conveniently forced and the sight gags and glib exchanges have all the clever timing of a discharged water gun.

Keeping Up with the Joneses is an espionage action-comedy that meanders in its broad banality. The genuine satirical message about how one can actually be lost and isolated in the dreamy bedroom communities of prosperous America is sound and promising. Nevertheless, Mattola opts to saturate this derivative actioner with needless and recycled mayhem that never really quite registers with what could have been the film’s observational theme — living large in the comfortable confines of “Apple Pie, USA” does not automatically entitle one to emotional or psychological completeness and true sense of one’s self. Instead, Mattola is only interested in delivering a disjointed and rowdy spy spectacle saddled on the bouncy shoulders of the canned comic relief regarding both Galifianakis and Fisher’s sketchy escapades. Why couldn’t LeSieur’s patchy script do more of a decent job in allowing Hamm and Gadot’s Joneses to monumentally play up the unfamiliar suburban norms that their undercover agent roles would have been so awkward at maintaining?

The possibilities for the Gaffneys secretly wanting an adventurous lifestyle in spying and styling while the Joneses entertaining the notion of actually settling down and planting their explosive feet in sedate Americana could have been done competently had the frivolous narrative bothered to address the comedic contradictions. The throwaway gags, for instance, involving elite restaurants that serve chopped-up live snake as a desired dish or watching the obligatory climax of having our savvy spies making an animated splash into a swimming pool to escape certain doom is enough reason to have Keeping Up with the Joneses classified as an aborted mission to a lesser degree.

Tagged: couple , marriage , neighbor , spies , spoof , suburbs

Frank Ochieng has been an online movie reviewer for various movie outlets throughout the years before coming on board at CMC. Previously, Frank had been a film critic for The Boston Banner (now The Bay State Banner) urban newspaper and had appeared on Boston's WBZ NewsRadio 1030 AM for an 11-year run as a recurring media commentator/panelist on the "Movie/TV Night" overnight broadcasts. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Internet Film Critics Society (IFCS). Frank is a graduate of Suffolk University in the historic section of Boston's Beacon Hill.

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'Movie Review: Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)' has 1 comment

October 29, 2016 @ 4:10 pm Kingsley

I can’t wait to not see this.

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Review by Daniel Gelb

Humdrum suburban couple Jeff (Zach Galifianakis) and Karen Gaffney (Isla Fisher) have just sent their kids away to summer camp, giving them plenty of time to become obsessed with the arrival of new neighbors to their cul-de-sac outside of Atlanta. The picture-perfect new couple on the block are Tim (Jon Hamm) and Natalie Jones (Gal Gadot), a world-travelling socialite duo. But something seems off about their spotless appearance, and Karen commits herself to finding out what their true motives are. So while Jeff develops a man crush on Tim as the vastly different pair bond at an underground snake restaurant and an indoor skydiving facility, Karen takes it upon herself to follow Natalie into a lingerie-store changing room in order to smoke out the truth about their neighbors.

Soon enough, Karen's suspicions are confirmed: Tim and Natalie are actually government operatives working to catch a shady employee at Jeff's workplace (he's the bumbling HR man at a huge aerospace defense firm). With their cover blown and the clock ticking, the spies decide to recruit Jeff and Karen for their plot to unmask the criminal at the company.

The setup (about the first half of the flick) is at times a joyless undertaking, as screenwriter Michael LeSieur employs some heavy-handed foreshadowing and familiar buddy-comedy constructs. But when the action kicks into gear and the Gaffneys become central to the Joneses' espionage plans, the film feel leaner and better paced. Director Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland) makes sure to keep the plot fairly straightforward and fluid, allowing moviegoers to focus solely on the talented cast's misadventures. The central concept is admittedly silly, but Mottola knows how to emphasize his best assets.

Speaking of which, the foursome seem like they're having fun with these fairly ordinary characters. Galifianakis deftly tones down his trademark ridiculousness with a subtler, more neurotic approach. Fisher's role here is a far cry from the sexual dynamo she played so many years ago in Wedding Crashers, but she believably pulls off the part of a curious, stifled housewife. Gadot fills the "sexy foreigner" stereotype with some unexpected humor and attitude, making a convincing case for her career outside of the Wonder Woman universe. And at this point, it's safe to assume that Hamm will succeed in just about any role he takes.

Action comedies about a dull couple's life getting turned upside down (see also: 2010's Date Night) are a film subgenre of variable quality, yet this by-the-numbers effort is thankfully redeemed by its clashing pair of lead twosomes. Harmlessly funny, albeit immediately forgettable, the only surprise about Keeping Up With the Joneses is that it didn't get a summertime theatrical release.

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Review: ‘Keeping Up With the Joneses’ Might Not Be Worth It

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By Ben Kenigsberg

• Oct. 20, 2016

One way to end the scourge of “TV is better than film” articles is to stop making movies like “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” a pedestrian comedy that almost seems intended as evidence for the cause. The plot invites comparisons to “The Americans” ; the presence of Jon Hamm as a man of mystery prompts wistful memories of “Mad Men” ; and the visual vocabulary — no one has bothered to address the abundance of overlit and sun-bleached shots — shows the indifference of a hasty live broadcast.

The story centers on Jeff (Zach Galifianakis), an earnest human resources worker at an aerospace and defense building, and his wife, Karen (Isla Fisher), an interior designer. Karen suspects that their too-perfect new neighbors — Tim (Mr. Hamm), a travel writer, and Natalie (Gal Gadot), a social-media consultant with a curious facility for dart throwing — are spies. No points for guessing that Karen is right, or that all the snooping will eventually lead to a form of couples therapy for both sets of suburbanites.

The absence of laughs can’t be blamed on a lack of talent. The movie’s utilitarian construction and non-igniting star chemistry are a surprise from this director, Greg Mottola, of “Adventureland,” “Superbad” and “The Daytrippers.” Without a fresh comic approach, “Keeping Up With the Joneses” settles for bathroom jokes (Karen plans to design a fancy urinal) and ethnocentrism, as when Tim takes Jeff to a Chinese restaurant that serves poisonous snakes.

BEN KENIGSBERG

“Keeping Up With the Joneses” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Marital woes, reckless driving.

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Movie Review: 'Keeping Up with the Joneses'

October 22, 2016 / 3:44 AM EDT / CBS Philadelphia

By Bill Wine KYW Newsradio

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - They're Jeff and Karen Gaffney, an everyday married couple, parents of two kids away at summer camp for the first time, living in a cul-de-sac in a quiet suburban neighborhood in suburban Atlanta.

He works in the human resources department of a defense contractor, she's a "home design consultant."

They're about to be alone together for the first time in a long time.

They've also just welcomed new neighbors who have just moved in next door.

They are bloggers Tim and Natalie Jones – he's a travel blogger with a glass-blowing hobby, she's a cooking blogger and a "social media consultant," whatever the heck that is -- and they're attractive, friendly, and sophisticated.

So keeping up with the Joneses may not be easy.

Oops. Oh, one other thing: the Joneses have a secret: they're undercover government agents involved in an international espionage plot and on the trail of what appear to be traitors dealing with Jeff's company.

Double oops.

Keeping Up with the Jones is an action comedy about these two couples and the relationships between the couples and the individuals.

Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher play the Gaffneys, Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot play the Joneses.

The film is amusing in spots, but the premise is too predictably and conventionally handled to keep us from noticing the premise's contempt-breeding familiarity, and much of the slapstick falls flat while much of the action merely and awkwardly falls.

To describe the film as generic is to understate the case.

There's a surface resemblance to The In-Laws , but that film had laughs and smarts to spare. And describing it as a comic variation of television's drama, The Americans , puts it on a pedestal it never earns.

Director Greg Mottola has made four nifty comedies ( Superbad, Paul, Adventureland, The Daytrippers ), but Keeping Up with the Joneses fails to keep up with his previous outings. It feels stale and tired, with awkwardly handled exposition and long stretches during which the comic edge evaporates, as if this was a persuasive, suspenseful spy thriller.

Mottola gets very little out of his talented but pretty much wasted cast, who are saddled with an unpolished (perhaps literally) screenplay by Michael LeSieur that has a suffocating lack of surprise.

In Mottola's previous comedies, we found laughs where we weren't expecting them. This time out, we wait for laughs that never come and respond to several subplots that never materialize.

For Galifianakis, who dials it down more than he should, and Isla Fisher, whose established comedic chops don't really come into play, this is a wasted opportunity.

As for Hamm and Gadot -- he was Mad Men's Don Draper, she's soon to be Wonder Woman , both are more closely associated with drama than comedy – they do what's asked of them, but they look as though they know they've wandered into the wrong neighborhood.

As comedy-cast showcases go, this is a case of severe underemployment.

So we'll spurn this sputtering spy spoof with 1-1/2 stars out of 4 . Will you get tired of Keeping Up with the Joneses ? Only if you see it.

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Keeping up with the Joneses (United States, 2016)

Keeping up with the Joneses (not to be confused with the better 2010 film The Joneses ) is a paint-by-numbers, creatively bankrupt “comedy” emerging from a studio system that has largely forgotten what it means to be genuinely funny. Lazily written and indifferently filmed, this sendup of action/spy movies rarely works as a satire and becomes downright unbearable when it attempts to do things like character/relationship building.

The premise, which is as tired as it sounds, postulates that happily married suburban couple Jeff (Zach Galifianakis) and Karen Gaffney (Isla Fisher) have their lives turned upside down with the arrival of their new neighbors, the Joneses. This couple is not only adept at everything but they’re impossibly fit and good looking. Since Tim (Jon Hamm) and Natalie Jones (Gal Gadot) are too good to be true, Karen is immediately suspicious of them - with good reason. As the Gaffneys eventually discover (after doing a little spying and nearly being killed in an ambush), the Joneses are covert CIA agents tasked with discovering a tech engineer who’s selling top secret circuits to an arms dealer (Patton Oswalt). Apparently, hilarity is supposed to ensue but I missed that part. Something I didn’t miss was an inordinately long car chase that is supposed to be exciting but instead nearly put me to sleep.

Maybe there’s a hidden desire for action/spy movie parodies that I’m unaware of. Even if there is, however, it’s hard to imagine Keeping up with the Joneses gaining much traction. It’s not funny enough to work as a comedy. The characters aren’t developed with enough finesse for us to care about them. The action is dull. The plot is a jumble. The whole endeavor is poorly conceived and executed without anything special to recommend it. On a technical level, it’s not terribly made but for all the enjoyment I got out of it, it might as well have been.

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Keeping up with the Joneses

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