Movie Review-The Joneses

'The Joneses' is a somewhat social commentary on today's consumerist society(the American society in particular). The movie revolves around a 'perfect' couple, Steve Jones(David Duchovny) and Kate Jones(Demi Moore), and their teenaged children Jenn(Amber Heard) and Mick(Ben Hollingsworth).Their family is envied by everyone in their posh,suburban neighborhood filled with Mcmansions and all the trappings of the upper-middle class.Kate is portrayed as the ultimate trend-setter-beautiful,sexy,dressed head-to-toe in top designer labels. Steve,on the other hand, is the most admired and successful businessman who has it all: a gorgeous wife, a big house and an endless supply of high-tech toys. The children,Jenn and Mick, rule their their new school as they own everything hip and trendy such as cool clothes,fast cars and the latest gadgets.

However,no one knows the truth about the so-called perfect family, which calls itself a 'unit' when no outsider is around. As the story unfolds, we are shown that the Joneses 'family' actually consists of four unrelated people who are hired by a firm to sell a high-end lifestyle,including the most expensive cars,clothes,etc in different parts of the U.S in order to promote consumerism in those areas. Each member of the 'unit' competes with each other in terms of the percentage by which the sales of the products they promote goes up. In a sense, each individual member of the unit is a salesperson,but has to carry out their job indiscreetly so as not to let the neighborhood find out what they are actually doing.

The movie subtly shows how the concept of increasing consumerism adversely affects the lives of people on a daily basis by focusing on how the Joneses' spending habits lead to their own and their community's downfall.So the lesson the movie teaches is a rather pertinent one in the current age,which is characterized by a never-ending increase in wants,leading to the eventual destruction of many people's lives.

While Demi Moore and David Duchovn played their roles really well,Amber Heard,who plays the Joneses' daughter,is wears an expressionless look throughout the movie,which is somewhat annoying. Overall,the movie is good in terms of the storyline,acting and continuity.

Rating: 4/5