Opening Day: 26 August 2010

Synopsis:

Demi Moore and David Duchovny star as a seemingly perfect couple who, along with their equally perfect teenagers -- Amber Heard (Zombieland, Pineapple Express) and Ben Hollingsworth (The Beautiful Life) -- move into an upscale gated community. The Joneses have better goods and game than any other family in town. The only problem is they’re not a family – they are employees of a stealth marketing organization, and they know how to make everyone else want what they’ve got.

Movie Review:

Imagine a perfect family – from the match made in heaven parents to their equally beautiful offspring. They live the finest lifestyle of a mansion-esque home, drive sleek cars and always draped and accessorized with the latest in fashion and technology. Imagine all that and the fact that they could all appear real and yet not be. The movie also introduces us to the concept of major stealth marketing which infiltrates our daily lives. This is the premise of The Joneses.

David Duchovny plays Steve Jones, who is married to Kathy Jones played by Demi Moore. Their teenage children, Jenn and Mick are played by Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth respectively. The Joneses move into a nice pristine neighbourhood and stirs the community immediately fitting in with the crowd and getting everyone to like them. At the same time, we discover that they are not an actual family and they have been hired by a company that employs stealth marketing. Each of the Joneses is an employee who has sales targets to meet and a lot of people to influence. And boy, do they tempt everyone else.

It is a surprise that for movie like The Joneses to not get much attention despite its interesting premise. It has gotten a limited release in the States and has only travelled to a film fest or two. Even in Singapore the movie has been pushed back and it would be no surprise if it sees a limited release here. To think the movie was made in 2009! This is a pity as the movie actually scores some points.

The product placements in the movie are bound to cause audiences to chuckle and how the 'consumers' actually fall victim to the Joneses’ slick work. Of course, as much as the movie starts off seemingly innocently like a comedy, the movie allows much room for drama especially when David Duchovny’s character starts to fall for his 'fake' wife and actually starts to long for an actual family life and wanting to do familial things with the rest of the children. And naturally, his character starts to question morality and whether he is doing the right thing. Things happen to the characters and the movie gets to the core of these characters, allowing the audience to discover if there is really any humanity left underneath their facades.

Pity though that the climax of the film feels somewhat unreal and contrived and this leads to the resolution being somewhat expected. If the decision made in the climax was further fleshed out and to allow the story to be less predictable for audiences, it would be a big winner. Let us hope that more people will see this nonetheless.

Movie Rating:



(The Joneses will stealthily sneak its way into the warmth in your heart)

Review by Mohamad Shaifulbahri