An effective cautionary tale for consumersBy John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
Much as we liberally educated intellectuals disdain materialism, or at
least say we do, a film that features the toys of the well-to-do carries
an allure, a cheap pleasure appealing to our basest materialistic
instincts. Such an appealing experience can be had if you watch The
Joneses, a cautionary tale about high-end marketers posing as a happy
family seducing neighbors and friends to buy the goods the Joneses flaunt.
The Grifters told of low-lifes scamming in traditional con games that
were harmless because most of us would never be caught in the
compromising places these scammers frequent. But in The Joneses, the
glamorous people next door, whose glitzy alcohol itself is worth
buying, are a family on product parade reaping rewards for everything
they have convinced you to buy just because you wanted to be like the
Joneses.
David Duchovny, as father Steve Jones, is his coolest ever, the new
dude on the block with everything, down to his impressive wife Kate
(Demi Moore), and two beautiful children, Jenn (Amber Heard) and
Mick (Ben Hollingsworth). They're all working the con, selling by
showing to every stratum of the newly-wealthy. This first segment of
the film, which shows them working their game, is as entertaining as
one of Danny Ocean's capers, only less obvious and perhaps more
dangerous because of its detachment from the normal heist.
The tension comes when exposure of the con looms and more importantly
when one or more of the "unit" begins to have scruples about the game.
Chaucer would approve of the moral ambiguities and the threat of
retribution by the gods of righteousness. Unfortunately as things begin
to come apart, the film turns from slick to sluggish, from fresh to
clich?.
As a moralized tale The Joneses is best when we are witnessing the
smooth con. The denouement is too much of mom arriving when our hand
has just left the cookie jar, and lying is not going to wor anymore. But as
long as Moore and Duchovny are achieving some level of screwball
amusement, the film is better than most other dramadies out there
today.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain