Keeping Up with the Joneses

[3.0 stars] [IMDb Link]

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This movie is another example of the rule: Good actors can save a movie from dreadfulness. (I note that IMDB rating is, as I type, a pretty dreadful 5.8. Rest assured: it could have been worse.)

Zach Galifianakis and Isla ("Anna Kendrick wasn't available") Fisher play Jeff and Karen Gaffney. They are the very definition of normal: Jeff is an HR guy for a defense firm, Karen is mostly a housewife, but also an interior designer. Their lives are disrupted by new neighbors, buying a house in their cul-de-sac: Tim Jones (Jon Hamm) and wife Natalie (Gal Gadot); they have an unlikely globe-trotting lifestyle that screams "cover story". And Tim seems overly interested in Jeff's interactions with his co-workers. Karen is (rightly) suspicious.

What transpires (explosions, gunplay, chases, etc.) is overly predictable, but watchable. Particularly watchable: Gal Gadot. In fact, I defy any straight American male (and a lot of non-straight ones too) to look away from the screen when she's on it. I don't think it's possible.

The movie is PG-13 with appropriate levels of "sexual content, action/violence and brief strong language" (i.e, one f-bomb dropped). I think I noticed a little sloppy editing: a joke that would have made more sense with some pre-establishment, which I speculate was cut.


Last Modified 2024-01-26 6:22 AM EDT