CINEMA: The Joneses

May 01, 2010

Written by: Dee Pilgrim

We really don’t get to see enough of David Duchovny on the big screen, which is a crying shame for the man is a comic genius.

No, he’s not a clown or a klutz, it’s just his comic timing is spot on – he could read the back of a tin of beans and still extract a laugh in the process.

Here he’s teamed with Demi Moore as the rich, fabulously gorgeous Mr and Mrs Jones with their perfect life and their perfect children and all the latest must-have accessories (nice house, nice car, nice clothes, nice shades). But all is not as it seems – which is where I have to insert a SPOILER, so sorry about this, but there’s no other way of getting around it.

The Jones’ family are big fat liars; in effect they are the marketing tool of a company wanting to promote the latest designer products and what better way of doing that than basically saying to all the Jones’s envious neighbours ‘if you want to be as fabulous as this family then you should drive this car, buy this TV, own this jewellery’. For a while the deception works but slowly cracks appear and the wheels fall off as Steve (Duchovny) begins to have feelings for his ‘wife’ (Moore), who is in effect his boss.

There’s something really slick and clever about this film and it is mirrored in the performances of Moore and Duchovny who keep a hold of their characters, making them human and yet not too sloppy. This is perfectly counter-pointed by the couple next door – Larry (Gary Cole) and Summer (Glenne Headly) who so aspire to be as perfect as their neighbours and yet you know will always be doomed to fail. T

he Joneses is thoughtfully clever and never gets too complicated. By sticking to the main story and characters it never dilutes its message – money can buy you a Rolex and a mansion, but if you’re not happy you’ll just end up wanting more.

Author: Dee Pilgrim

Dee always knew she wanted to make her living from writing and so trained as a journalist before working for a variety of music and women’s titles including Sounds, Company, Cosmopolitan, Ms London, New Woman, and Girl About Town. After going freelance she concentrated on celebrity interviews and film, theatre, music and restaurant reviews. Her love of film goes back to her very first cinema experience at the age of five when her mother took her to see Bambi. She cried. At one time she was the Film Editor for NOW magazine and also the secretary for the film section of the Critics’ Circle and the celebrity coordinator for its annual film awards’ event. She has written a number of books for teenagers through Trotman Publishing, including five Real Life Guides to vocational careers (including Carpentry, Plumbing and Catering), and also three books on Real Life Issues (Money, Bereavement and Self Harm). Her favourite film is still Bladerunner.