THE JONESES: KEEPING UP WITH THEM ISN'T THAT EASY

By now we know that even the most seemingly "perfect" families have little secrets. The biggest secret that the Joneses are keeping, is that they are not even a family. During the opening credits we watch as their house is "moved into" by professionals. But they aren't moving professionals, they are merchandising professionals. It looks more like they are getting ready to open a new store then move in a new family. And, that's pretty much the way this story goes. Demi Moore and David Duchovny are the "parents" and Ben Hollingsworth and Amber Heard are the "children" in this farce, but in reality none are related and all are under the thumb of master seller and boss Kate Jones (Moore). The idea is brilliant as it works just like it does in real life. The kid down the block gets a new kinda of skateboard and lets his friends try it and all of a sudden every kid wants that skateboard. However, this time it's been done on purpose and with a slightly pushier bunch. Practically no item is mentioned to others without the item specs: it comes in blue too, they have three styles, we chose the oak, but there is walnut too. Things go very well for the family except that Steve (Duchovny) is new to this and keeps expecting that the "family" will want to go bowling or bond together in some way; aside from the way his "daughter" tries to bond with him. Worse than that is that he develops feelings for his "wife" which complicate matters beyond belief. It's an interesting concept for a film and well acted by all. Nothing really stands out, but it did hold my attention.