I can’t say I was entirely disappointed in Keeping Up with the Joneses but for the talent they had, Galifianakis, Hamm and Fisher in particular, the script does them no justice with humor that doesn’t quite land and a thin plot that can’t compensate for the lack of laugh-out-loud jokes.
Keeping Up with the Joneses
(2016)
Genre(s): Action, Comedy, Crime, Romance
Fox | PG13 – 105 min. – $39.99 | January 17, 2017
Date Published: 01/19/2017 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
THE MOVIE — 2.75/5 |
|
Keeping Up with the Joneses is an action-comedy-romance where the action is generic, the comedy haphazard and romance thin. This is a movie I had a moderate amount of interest in mainly for the core cast it’s just unfortunate the screenplay didn’t take advantage of the idea and talent. The story is set in an idyllic suburb where we meet Jeff and Karen Gaffney (ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, ISLA FISHER) whose kids are off to camp for the summer. Across the street moves in Tim and Natalie Jones (JON HAMM, GAL GADOT) who are absolutely too perfect, specimen of the human race, quite frankly. Karen is immediately suspicious while Jeff is accepting and wants nothing more than form a friendship with Tim.
As you might already know, the Joneses are not all they seem and in fact are spies working for an undisclosed U.S. agency. They have moved into the neighborhood specifically for Jeff who works human resources for MBI, a research facility. See, someone at the company has been using his computer, as upper levels are locked down, to contact an International arms dealer nicknamed “The Scorpion”. But of course the Gaffney’s have stepped right in the middle of the operation. In between we get some explosions, excuses getting Gal Gadot and Isla Fisher in PG-13 rated lingerie and a very generic chase/shootout sequence. Oh, and Kevin Dunn makes a brief appearance as MBI’s head of security. And, that’s the exceptionally thin plot. This isn’t a bad movie but something I’ve come across more and more over the years: throwaway entertainment. You’re not going to get something that will resonate longer than a few minutes before moving on to the next form of entertainment but at the same time, is good enough to waste 100-minutes. The cast at least were at times fun to watch and you can’t go wrong with the likes of Jon Hamm who is charming as ever and even Zach Galifianakis doesn’t go bonkers while Isla Fisher perhaps is the highlight; and Gal Gadot fits well for her role, one that lacks much character and is there to look hot firing a gun and turning heads.
Keeping Up with the Joneses was directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad, Paul) from a script by Michael LeSieur (You, Me and Dupree) and while it’s hardly bad with a basic premise, the laughs are few and far between. If not for the cast, this probably wouldn’t have worked at all and in the end, it’s merely okay, disposable, entertainment. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
|
This release comes with a semi-glossy slip cover. Inside is a DVD Copy and a Digital HD Copy redemption code. Spy Game (11:44; HD) is your typical making-of featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and cast/crew interviews. Nothing really special but at least you get to see the cast having fun. Deleted Scenes (18:17; HD)
Keeping Up with Georgie (5:04; HD) is more behind-the-scenes footage of the cast having fun filming in and around Atlanta. Also included is a Photo Gallery. Previews – Why Him?, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Masterminds |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Fox releases Keeping Up with the Joneses onto Blu-ray presented in its original theatrical 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and given an AVC-encoded 1080p high-definition transfer. As one would expect, this action-comedy keeps things rather light so colors are fairly vibrant while detail is relatively sharp and nicely defined throughout. I didn’t notice any major instances of artifacts or aliasing but while this does look good, it doesn’t have that pop off the smaller screen compared to other new releases. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The movie has been equipped with a robust DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track which is rather well balanced between the quieter, dialogue-driven scenes and the few action ones, including a exploding house (no spoiler, it’s the first scene in the movie), which has good reverberation through the home theater. As with the picture, it’s nothing to write home about to show off one’s surround sound system, but at the same time it’s still effective. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
|
Overall, I can’t say I was entirely disappointed in Keeping Up with the Joneses but for the talent they had, Galifianakis, Hamm and Fisher in particular, the script does them no justice with humor that doesn’t quite land and a thin plot that can’t compensate for the lack of laugh-out-loud jokes. For teenagers, I’m sure they’ll get joy seeing Fisher and Gadot in lingerie (not that I’m complaining), otherwise it’s a rather forgettable film destined in a few years to air on the FXX. The Blu-ray released by Fox offers great video/audio transfers however the features are limited. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.