Movie Review: Keeping Up With The Joneses

Taking some old movie elements such as a "spy comedy", a new "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and an ordinary suburban couple, "Keeping Up with the Joneses" is a feel good action comedy which takes on marital woes to a whole new level. 

Jeff and Karen Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fischer) are your typical suburban couple, he works in HR while she designs bathrooms (apparently "Brooklyn Urinals" are a thing). The Gaffneys may need some work with their marriage as a house free of kids (who are away in camp) equates to binge watching drama shows instead of passionate love making (complete with candles potentially burning down the house). 

Bored and unfulfilled, Karen obsesses over the new neighbors, the Joneses, who just moved in their perfect cul-de-sac, whom Karen insists are "too perfect". 

Natalie (Gal Gadot) tall, sexy and beautiful has a food blog and help children from Sri Lanka. Tim, (Jon Hamm) handsome and debonair is a travel-destination writer, who has been to so many exotic places.

Tim takes an interest on Jeff, whom he charms and tries to befriend and in the process gather information. You see, Jeff works in the Human Resources department of a highly secretive company called MBI. While others see Jeff's work as "unimportant" he is the perfect target for the Joneses who turn out of course to be-spies.

Hilarity ensues as these odd couples take on the evil "Scorpion". 

There may have been a few plot holes for me (SPOILER ALERT) the Joneses' house exploding for them to return casually in a cab (what if there are other nosy neighbors spying) was very "un-spy like". I think the whole house exploding was a rushed way to get the Joneses out of suburbia. 

Even if Gal Gadot is gorgeous to look at on screen, I just see her as "Wonder Woman", the accent may have helped her secret agent-mysterious cover but I'd really like to see her in a role without the accent. Also, did they really have to end up making her Israeli? (As she really is) couldn't she just have stayed Greek? I know, I know, I'm just nitpicking here. Last- I also didn't think that she and Jon Hamm had that chemistry on screen. 

I did like the sudden change in pace in a couple of scenes and Galifianakis and Fischer are hilarious and definitely my favorite part of the film. 

7 out of 10. A nice movie to watch if you're looking for a little action, some laughs and a little crazy insight on suburban marriages, "Keeping Up With The Joneses" is now showing! 

#KeepingUpPH #KUWTJ 

Movies: GAL GADOT IN COMEDY AND ACTION OF BLOCKBUSTER PROPORTIONS IN “KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES”

From the producers of worldwide blockbuster and genre-defining action films such as “Gladiator”, “Minority Report” and “Men in Black” films, Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes give action-comedy a new tick in “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” starring Gal Gadot, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm and Zach Galifianakis.    

              “Keeping Up with the Joneses” sees Gal Gadot as a spy married to another spy, played by Jon Hamm, together they are Mr. and Mrs. Jones (Natalie and Tim) who just moved in to a quiet neighbourhood.  The Joneses stunning looks are only matched by the worldly sophistication of their lives.  Tim Jones is an accomplished travel writer whose hobbies include blowing his own glass sculptures, and his wife Natalie is social media consultant, cooking blogger, and heroine to the plight of Sri Lankan orphans. 

              Within the neighborhood lives the Gaffneys, Jeff and Karen, played by Galifianakis and Fisher who have been living a simple unperturbed life until the Joneses moved in.  With their kids away for the first time at summer camp, the Gaffneys hope to spend some quality alone-time and reignite the romantic fire that has started to flicker.    This proves easier said than done when Karen’s imagination is distracted by the sudden arrival of new neighbors on the cul-de-sac. As Karen asks, “Why would people this attractive and accomplished ever want to live here?”

              Parkes and Macdonald add that they also sparked to the idea of a suburban couple who, says Parkes, “desperately wants to be friends with their neighbors.  This connection provides a recognizable and emotional foundation for a high-concept comedy—that the film wasn’t just about playing the gag.”

              Gal Gadot, who recently starred as Wonder Woman in “Batman v. Superman”, and who reprises the role in the upcoming “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League”, portrays Natalie, an ex-Mossad agent who now works for the Agency, and is partnered with her husband.  “When we meet them, Natalie and Tim have a good relationship, except that he doesn’t share a lot with her,” says Gadot.  “Tim may even be a little intimidated by Natalie.  After all, she’s quite dominant and is always in control.  Natalie wants things to happen when she wants them to happen.”

              Moreover, the fetching but tough-as-nails Natalie absolutely will not tolerate disrespect, which some of her neighbors learn the hard way during an annual cul-de-sac celebration known as Junetoberfest.  Jealous of Natalie’s, well, everything, the women turn on her immediately, while the men drip of condescension when she joins them in a soon-to-be-not-so-friendly game of darts.  

              Like her on-screen hubby, Gadot relished the chance to do comedy.  “I was thrilled on how easy the laughs came for me when I was reading the script,” she says, pointing to one scene where Natalie suddenly steps out of a department store dressing room—wearing nothing but a thong and low-cut bra—to confront Karen, who had been following her mysterious new neighbor.  Here, again, the film’s mix of laughs and unexpected moments of emotion and vulnerability are showcased.  There’s a real sense of comedic intimidation, as Natalie easily gets control of the situation and of Karen, until Natalie suddenly lets her guard down and opens up to her.

              Gadot’s ability to intimidate, even in humorous circumstances, impressed many on set, including her director. “Gal has this great intensity,” Mottola notes.  “She can be very serious and intense, and then she breaks into a smile and, on a dime, turns into the warmest, most earthy woman who’s just so sweet.”

              Get ready for the Mr. and Mrs. spy games when “Keeping Up with the Joneses” opens in cinemas on October 19 from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Movies: ISLA FISHER SPIES ON NEIGHBORS IN “KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES”

Multi-talented Isla Fisher, noted for her roles in “Confessions of a Shopaholic”, “Now You See Me” and “The Wedding Crashers”  will next be seen in the high-octane action-comedy “Keeping Up with the Joneses” which also stars Gal Gadot, Zach Galifianakis and Jon Hamm.

Directed by Greg Mottola, one of comedy’s most popular directors in recent times (“Superbad”), his latest helmer “Keeping Up with the Joneses” is about an ordinary suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher) who discovers it’s not easy keeping up with their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors, the Joneses (Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot)  – especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. “Jones” are really covert operatives. 

 Fisher takes on the role of Karen Gaffney, blissfully married to Jeff (Galifianakis) on a quiet cul-de-sac neighbourhood.  With their kids out on summer camp, Karen clicks away time by redesigning bathrooms and waiting on Jeff to come home from work...until the Joneses moved in.  Upon meeting the gorgeous couple, Tim (Hamm) and Natalie (Gadot) Jones, Jeff and Karen instantly bonded with the Joneses.  But after noticing that the Joneses’ lives are somehow too perfect, Karen pushes Jeff to investigate further by crashing into the couple’s house. It turns out that Karen is right…about the Joneses. Ultimately, they become a happier and more fulfilled couple, thanks to their misadventures with the covert duo.

 

Despite Karen’s initial misgivings, Jeff sees in Tim the coolest best friend he could only dream of having – while Karen, too, is soon seduced in Natalie’s glamorous and sexy approach to suburban life.   But as soon as the friendship seems to be cemented, The Gaffneys find themselves in the center of a storm of international espionage that will give them a breathtaking glimpse of life “outside the cul de sac” --  and will show both couples what “being a good neighbor” really means.  

Isla Fisher explains:  “The Gaffneys need to get in touch with one another, romantically and emotionally.  They eventually get there, but in the craziest kind of ways.”   The actress further notes that she embraced the story’s premise because “there’s so much comedy inherent in a suburban couple with their noses pressed to the glass, envying their neighbors’ glamorous lives.”

 “One of the things getting in the couple’s way is Karen’s obsession with the Joneses; she’s convinced there’s something …off…about them.  Why would people who look, act and dress like they do move to their neighborhood, she wonders.  It’s a way for Karen to avoid looking at herself or the marriage, or consider what she and Jeff could be doing to make things better now that the kids are away,” director Mottola shares. 

 While comedy gold is mined from the chasm separating the two couples’ lifestyles, demeanor and professions, there is indeed an important commonality between the two pairings: the Gaffneys eventually learn that the picture-perfect Joneses share the same kinds of problems endemic to their union—and to virtually all marriages.

A fun-filled date movie for all couples, rated PG by the local censors board – “Keeping Up with the Joneses” opens October 19 in cinemas nationwide from 20^thCentury Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.