Review: The Joneses

With a lock on our consumer culture, The Joneses is an enjoyable satire, a sort of mixture of The Stepford Wives and the Home Shopping Network. The film focuses on the Joneses, a "family" made up of salespeople assigned to influence the spending habits of a certain suburb.

David Duchovny plays Steve, the father figure who also happens to be the newest addition to the team. His "wife" and boss, Kate, is played by a lovely and well-matched Demi Moore. Rounding out their family unit is Amber Heard as Jenn, their "teenage" daughter who prefers older men, and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth), who works with the high-school set as he deals with his own issues. Also playing a large part in the story are Gary Cole (fabulous as always) and Glenne Headley as a neighbor couple who completely buy into whatever the Joneses are selling.

There is a definite romantic angle to The Joneses -- Duchovny and Moore make a pretty hot couple -- but the overlying theme is, is the cost of all this selling worth it? To play this product-placement role, the characters have had to give up close contact with any support system or family who might know them as their old selves.   

Kate seems pretty satisfied with her career choice, and yearns for "icon status" (the highest level you can reach in their racket). Still, there are a few instances where her doubt is visible. Steve, as the new guy, is never fully sold on the idea. At one point he almost divulges their secret to Gary Cole's Larry. Mick has his own secret that he doesn't feel comfortable sharing until halfway through the film (let's just say it doesn't fit the character of a "typical" high school student). There are other ramifications from the family's stay in the neighborhood; keeping up appearances has a toll. A very unhappy event entangles the team and spurs the plot towards the denouement.

The main takeaway from first-time director Derrick Borte's film is that such "stealth marketing" is undeniably possible. In this age of The Real Housewives (BTW, I spotted one of the Atlanta ladies in a party scene) and even in this dismal economy, the idea isn't too far off. If you can face this troubling concept and don't mind tons of product placement -- and let's face it, the products play an integral role in The Joneses -- the movie doesn't really disappoint. Even the darkest moments of the film (and the maudlin music used therein) don't drag it down too far.