Movie Review: “The Joneses”

My husband and I sat down for a lazy Sunday afternoon movie over pizza (for him) and sushi (for me). The kids were upstairs playing and it was wonderful to have some much needed snuggling time in front of the TV with him.

We decided to watch a Netflix movie. My husband chose the movie while I brought our lunch into the living room. We got settled and I asked him what we were going to watch, to which he responded, “An Indie movie with Demi Moore and David Duchovny called “The Joneses”. If we don’t like it we can always find another one.”

An Indie movie sounded good to me. I get tired of the “same-ole” plot over and over that Hollywood puts out year after year. They cannot come up with an original idea to save their lives! These days it seems like almost every movie that comes out is nothing but a remake of a previous movie!  Though this movie, “The Joneses”, came out in 2009 I had never heard of it before today.

We could tell almost immediately that this was not the “same-old” kinda movie.

Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB)  gives the following synopsis for “The Joneses” : ”A seemingly perfect family moves into a suburban neighborhood, but when it comes to the truth as to why they’re living there, they don’t exactly come clean with their neighbors.”

At one point I was just about ready to turn it off because it seemed to be something very perverted. If you have not watched this movie, and decide to watch it after reading my review I challenge you to stick with the movie. What seems to be perversion turns out to be something else entirely.

As I am sure you have already surmised from the title, the movie is about the old cliché “keeping up with The Jones’”.  It’s interesting to see how things play out in the movie as “The Jones family” sets the standard for their friends and neighbors to keep up with. What’s even more interesting- and sad- is to see how their friends and neighbors hang on to The Jones’ every word. Every conversation consists of throwing out the latest name brand item to their friends. Their friends fall for it hook line… and sadly, sinker.

Another interesting point that plays out in the movie is that “The Jones family” does not come across as having a “better than you” attitude. Though there is a specific reason why it plays out this way, “The Jones family” has more of a “you can have it too” attitude. 

The character of Mr. Jones is played by David Duchovny. While his reasons are wrong for what he is doing, if we applied the “appearance” that Mr. Jones gives their family friends in how he treats his wife, our nation’s families would not be in the condition they are in. “Just because” is reason enough for a special dinner or gift. The dichotomy of the “appearance” versus the reality of the “family situation” can teach all of us a lesson if we take it to heart. 

The bad part about it is that just as in real life, “The Jones family” is not what they “appear” to be. There were several things that happened that I honestly was not expecting. Ironically, I should have expected some of these things to happen.  I see it as just another indication of how this country is. What I should have expected as an obvious outcome from their actions did not cross my mind, just as what our obvious outcome from our actions as a nation will be doesn’t seem to even cross the minds of most people.

I challenge every single person in America to watch “The Joneses”, all the while keeping their eyes wide open. After watching this movie, compare the characters in the movie to what has been going on in this country for decades. After decades of living on someone else’s dime we are facing dire circumstances that are very near impossible to get out of.

America, we are trying to “keep up with The Jones’ ” and we cannot afford it! We are on a collision course with reality and it is not pretty! The consequences of our irresponsible actions over the past several decades truly are deadly! If we do not face reality about our nation’s situation we are going to find ourselves in a place we cannot dig ourselves out of! In fact, we very well may be at that point right now! I would like to have faith that we have not reached the point of no return, but the facts are glaring us in the face and  yet we still refuse to face them and make the necessary changes.

We are committing suicide as a country. On second thought, we are committing murder-suicide as a country. Not only are we killing our own future by trying to “keep up with The Jones’” by refusing to face reality and make theses necessary changes, tough as they may be, we are killing the future of our children and grandchildren.

In the end it always catches up to us. Always!