THE JONESES

Starring:
Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard, Gary Cole and Ben Hollingsworth

Director:
Derrick Borte

Running Time:
96 mins

Out to buy on DVD 16/08/10

"Hello, we're the Joneses"

When you look at Steve (Duchovny) and Kate (Moore) with their teenage children Jenn (Heard) and Mick (Hollingsworth), you’d think that the Joneses are the perfect family. They have a magnificent home, stunning cars, the perfect wardrobe and every item that any well to do family would want but their life was just too amazing to be true. In fact the Joneses are four professional sales person with targeted demographic and they are selling to their new neighbours, friends and classmates. They might look perfect on the outside but when the selling ends, the Joneses have nothing but the job.

To keep up with your friends, neighbours and rivals has always been a pressure for any person or family but imagine if a company put a sales people into your community, could that be the ultimate advertisement?

The premise behind ‘The Joneses’ is one that you can readily believe. As the advertising market goes through a dramatic change, with the usual revenues of Radio, TV and Print struggling to compete with internet, mobile phone app, social networking and viral techniques that grabbing the younger consumer and pushing sales. One aspect of selling has always been the very best way to market your product, word of mouth because if a friend or family member says it’s good, then you’ll take their word for it. So imagine if a new family moved into your neighbourhood, who worn all the latest designer clothes, drive the smartest cars, train and play with the best equipment and their house is filled with furniture, ornaments and technology that everyone would want. You would, of course, quickly make friends and hang on their every word as to what to buy, how to dress and what to look like but what happens if that family wasn’t a family at all but a group of sales people selling to those with the disposable income to keep up with ‘The Joneses’?

What makes this plot all of the more intriguing is that you can imagine it happening. Here we have what looks like the perfect family who has the best of everything, who wouldn’t want to be like them? To play the perfect family you need picture perfect actors and in Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth you have what looks like the ideal family but instead you have a group of sales people pushing for their slice of the commission. The twist in the tale comes from Duchovny’s Steve Jones, character. A former car salesman who has moved up to the major leagues and having just joined Demi Moore’s Kate team, is struggling with the concept of deceiving people into buying something they don’t really need. It is this aspect of the plot that brings the drama and tension to the piece and provides a moral discussion for anyone who watches it.

The performances from the Jones family members are good, with Demi Moore and David Duchovny showing that even though they have moved into the late forties bracket and heading towards their fifties, they still have the presence and the chemistry to be the leads in a movie like this. Amber Heard is a star in the making and as the troublesome Jenn Jones, she shows that there is more to hear than just her looks. Ben Hollingsworth is the weakest of the family however, with his Mick character only really becoming a cliché of the modern dramas. The supporting cast is very good also, with Gary Cole excelling as Larry Symonds, the man who is prepared to risk everything to keep up with his new neighbours and set the standard for there community.

‘The Joneses’ is an interesting premise well executed. With a possible and probably reality mixing with drama, this is a thought provoking movie that does enough to keep you interested and entertained but shows that David Duchovny and Demi Moore are never too old to be the leads in a well written movie.


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