The Joneses

UK Release: 23rd April 2010

Watched on DVD: Sunday 1st January 2012

Rating: 15

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Runtime: 1hr 36mins

Tagline: They're not just living the American dream, they're selling it.

IMDb Plot Synopsis: 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 neighbours.

My Review: This film, while billed as one, really isn’t a comedy. Instead what we have here is a very moving drama that tells a great, original story with a fascinating social commentary thrown in too. In fact, to tell you the truth I was really rather effected by this film. And I’m glad I was, because without its emotional core this film may have been seen as a farce. This was due to the acting being reasonable, the story not necessarily the most action-packed and the film that could have been longer. 

But it isn’t a farce and while the film is all those things it is something much more and is very well shot. I love the way it is shot so beautifully glossy as the Joneses are this glossy, glamorous ‘family’ but as things start to deteriorate so the cinematography becomes a little more raw. Those kind of thought-out parallels deserve some credit as well as the smart dialogue that many of the supporting characters have. Overall this film was very interesting and entertaining to watch while providing a commentary on consumerism in this day and age: where what we own and how we present ourselves to the world becomes paramount. How far people will go to gain money and to fit in by buying all these products that people such as the ‘Joneses’ tell us we need: this film shows you how far. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen in a while and is well worth checking out...

Score: 8.5/10