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Starring |
David Duchovny
,
Demi Moore
,
Amber Heard
,
Ben Hollingsworth
,
Glenne Headley
,
Gary Cole
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Directed By |
Derrick Borte
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Audio
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Dolby Digital 5.1
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Visuals
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1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
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Running Time |
95 mins
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UK Release Date |
August 16, 2010
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Genre |
Drama, Comedy
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Our Rating |
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User Rating |
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When the Jones family move into the area, the neighbours are suitably impressed. Here is a family which that to have everything: a likeable golf-loving dad (Duchovny), a glamorous and apparently loving wife (Moore), as well as two attractive teenaged kids, Jenn and Mick (Heard and Hollingsworth). They also have a lovely big house and all manner of state of the art consumer products.
The twist is: these are no ordinary Joneses. Indeed, they’re not even a family at all, but a “unit” carefully constructed to promote a way of life. By mingling amongst the local populace, the quartet’s secret mission is to boost sales of a wealth of consumer products: golf clubs and cars in daddy’s case, make up and shoes for daughter Jenn and so on. Truly, a case of capitalism: a love story.
Problems arise when this fake family soon becomes as dysfunctional as a genuine one. Duchovny’s “father” Steve has problems with neighbours Larry and his more conventional salesperson wife, Summer (Cole and Headly), who soon find themselves quite literally struggling to keep up with the Joneses. “Daughter” Jenn seems more interested in pursuing sexual encounters than perusing sales figures and overall, the quartet soon find events escalating beyond control.
Debut director Derrick Borte himself presents a convincing sales pitch here. The idea of a manufactured artificial consumer family is so devious it makes you wonder if such “units” exist already. On the downside, Duchovny’s Steve seems altogether too naïve to have got involved in such a racket, or indeed to have ever succeeded as a salesman in the first place. There also seems to be an odd misogyny about the script. Broadly speaking all the three main male characters are essentially humane and vulnerable, while with the notable exception of son Mick’s bohemian friend Naomi, all the female characters are either nymphos or obsessed with sales.
But perhaps this is overanalysing it. Perhaps we should be grateful enough to see David Duchovny, Demi Moore and Glenne Headly all in decent big screen 21st century roles.
Bonus features fans be warned though: there are none here.
Overall Verdict: A clever idea only slightly undermined by a few flaws in its execution.
Special Features:
None
Reviewer: Chris Hallam
