Showing posts with label Jonses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jonses. Show all posts

Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Jonses (2009)

America’s addiction to consumer glitz gets skewered in “The Jonses,” a satirical comedy-drama about an atypical family with Demi Moore and David Duchovny as mom and dad, respectively. One will figure out the film’s wink-wink catch within 10 minutes, but I’ll hold dishing on it. The gist is, of course, that keeping up with the Jonses -- who have the best cars, latest cell phones, killer TV gaming system and the tastiest flash-frozen food you’ll ever eat -- is hell. The Jonses have unlimited funds. Their neighbors do not. The deficit is not kind. Much of the film plays like “Fantasy Island”: People live like this? What jobs do they have? No one here seems to work. It’s sci-fi to me. Director/writer Derrick Borte has a point to grind, and he does it well for a while, but there’s a nagging feeling that a thousand companies fought to get their products placed on camera, from the Audis to the coffee makers, and the fancy-pants Dell laptop at film’s end, all to make the audience say, “I want that.” Muddled message, eh? Duchovny and Moore are fantastic, movie stars forever. B-