Keeping Up with the Joneses: Movie Review

Although I wasn’t sold on the trailers, I had some hope going into “Keeping Up with the Joneses”.  Not only did it sport a solid cast, but director Greg Mottola previously gave us “Superbad” and “Adventureland”.   There had to be a little more going on than what was being sold.  Sadly, I was completely wrong.  “Keeping Up with the Joneses” is exactly as bad as the trailers make it look.

Jeff and Karen Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher respectively) are an ordinary suburban couple, living a pretty uneventful life.  Jeff’s idea of excitement is indoor skydiving.  With their kids away from home, the Gaffney’s decide to befriend the couple that just moved in across the street.  Tim and Natalie Jones (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot respectively) are the Gaffney’s complete opposite.  They have traveled the world and live exciting lives.

It turns out that the Joneses aren’t who they pretend to be.  They are actually government secret agents.  Because someone at the company Jeff works for has been using his computer to sell stolen computer chips, they have been using him to uncover the identity of the criminal.  When the Gaffney’s discover that the Joneses are actually spies, all hell breaks loose.

“Keeping Up with the Joneses” is a truly terrible movie.  This is an action-comedy that is neither exciting or funny.  The jokes are lazy and the cast looks absolutely bored.  Galifianakis, Hamm, and Fisher definitely have it in them to be funny but the screenplay from Michael LeSieur (“You, Me, and Dupree”) gives them nothing interesting to work with.   If you want to see a better film about a family pretending to be The Joneses, check out the 2009 comedy “The Joneses” starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny.  Avoid “Keeping Up with the Joneses” at all costs.

By: Marc Ferman