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Film review: Keeping Up with the Joneses

MANILA, Philippines – With all that has been said and done about the spy/action genre, it would be difficult to expect something from out of left field coming from Hollywood. But if ever there was an industry that is ready to beat a dead horse or rehash the rehashed, that would be the entertainment industry.

So we have this new release that gives us the premise of “what if a couple like Mr. & Mrs. Smith were our neighbors,” and let’s make this film from the perspective of the neighbors of the Smiths — in this case, Jones. As a result we get Keeping Up with the Joneses, a light-hearted romp through the world of spying and espionage, with the Gaffneys (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher) as our clueless tour guides.

Directed by Greg Mottola, who gave us Superbad and Adventureland, the film casts Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot as the Jones couple, the über perfect new neighbors who are so accomplished, in love and super-friendly that, of course, something must be wrong with them, and they can’t really be what they seem to be. The comedy that ensues is more situational, with zingers and funny lines punctuating the action scenes and aforementioned situations.

Galifianakis is a known comedic talent and despite the dieting that he shows off in the film, he carries much of the comedic weight, as the HR manager of a company that deals in sensitive defense contracts. Fisher, best remembered for The Confessions of a Shopaholic, is another bright spot here, as her lines are the most funny. While Gadot delivers such nuggets as “I may not need to moisturize, but I still have feelings,” most men will just be drooling, thinking ahead to when she stars as Wonder Woman in her own film next year. Hamm, from TV’s Mad Men, portrays the suave Mr. Jones, and while much more could have been done with his character, he’s essentially playing straight man to Galifianakis’ Jeff Gaffney.

The film is an entertaining diversion, and we can’t really fault the producers for making the most of the threadbare plot. What did disappoint is how there is no real arc to the Gaffneys, or how the lightness of the proceedings and attack of the material are maintained throughout the film. At some point, it felt like an extended TV episode, where despite being a film, the comedy is kept at a level that could never be called daring and kept safe for a TV audience. - Philip Cu Unjieng