Taglines: The lived a normal life… until the Joneses moved in.
Jeff Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis) works as a Human Resources professional at a Defense contractor company called MBI, based in Atlanta. He and his wife Karen (Isla Fisher) live in a nice cul-de-sac with their two children, who are away at summer camp. They make the acquaintance of their two new neighbors, Tim (Jon Hamm) and Natalie Jones (Gal Gadot). Tim is a travel writer whose hobbies include glassblowing, and Natalie is a social media consultant, cooking blogger and philanthropist. They are both impossibly good-looking, accomplished and stylish, yet overly friendly with the Gaffneys.
Karen starts having suspicions about the Joneses when she catches Tim poking around Jeff’s den during a neighborhood block party, then witnesses Natalie doing what looks like a dead drop in a café. Karen follows Natalie to the mall, but Natalie confronts her in a dressing room, defusing the situation with some female bonding. Meanwhile, Tim invites Jeff to an underground Chinese restaurant, where Jeff drinks snake wine and is bitten by a severed snake head, forcing Tim to save his life. In exchange, Jeff takes Tim to indoor skydiving, a passion of his that none of his friends share. All the way through, Tim tries to have Jeff talk about his coworkers at the office. One night, with the help of Natalie, Tim sneaks into the MBI building and look over Jeff’s emails.
Back at their house, Jeff accidentally breaks the glass sculpture made by Tim that was given to them, revealing a bug among the shards. Realizing the Joneses are spies, Karen decides to sneak into their house to find more evidence. They discover files on Jeff and the other MBI employees and Jeff accidentally stuns Karen with a pen gun. They narrowly escape as the Joneses arrive. Natalie is worried Tim might be getting too close to Jeff, but they reveal they are in love with each other, which is also against the rules. Natalie notices the used pen gun on the floor, and they realize the Gaffneys have broken into their house.
The Gaffneys arrange a private meeting with MBI security officer Carl Pronger (Kevin Dunn) to expose the Joneses, but before Carl can disclose classified details, he is killed by a sniper who also attacks the Gaffneys. They are rescued by the Joneses and a high-speed chase and shootout ensue. The Gaffneys learn that the Joneses are actually trying to discover whether there is treason within MBI. Back in the cul-de-sac, Jeff gives Tim and Natalie some relationship advice and the two couples bond. After they reenter their house, the Joneses trigger a bomb that blows it up.
Keeping Up with the Joneses is a 2016 American action comedy film directed by Greg Mottola and written by Michael LeSieur. Starring Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher and Gal Gadot, the film follows a suburban couple (Galifianakis and Fisher) who begin to suspect their new neighbors (Hamm and Gadot) are secret agents. The film was released on October 21, 2016 by 20th Century Fox, received generally negative reviews and was a box office bomb, grossing $29 million against its $40 million budget.
What is keeping up with the Joneses?
“Keeping up with the Joneses” as an American expression actually began in 1913 with a comic strip by Arthur R. “Pop” Momand. The Joneses never actually appeared in the comic, but they exerted their influence in all the storylines.
Now, we use this phrase to refer primarily to people who focus on appearances – especially when it comes to appearing well-off. Maybe it’s the family down the road who pays for high-class lawn care service so they have the greenest, plushest lawn in the subdivision. Or maybe it’s the mom in PTA who pays $200 a month for professional highlights and who-knows-how-much for frequent mani-pedis. Or maybe it’s the guy at work who drives a flashy car you could never afford, even though he’s not that far above your pay grade.
It’s hard to escape the influence of those around us who live seemingly wealthy, free-and-easy lifestyles. And it’s really, really hard to escape the noise of all the advertisers who desperately want us to keep up with those people who are forking over money for more stuff. Yet whoever we say is trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” we never turn the phrase to ourselves.
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher, Gal Gadot, Patton Oswalt, Matt Walsh, Maribeth Monroe, Ming Zhao
Screenplay by: Michael LeSieur
Production Design by: Mark Ricker
Cinematography by: Andrew Dunn
Film Editing by: David Rennie
Costume Design by: Ruth E. Carter
Set Decoration by: Rena DeAngelo, Jenn Sandel
Music by: Jake Monaco
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, action / violence and brief strong language.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 21, 2016
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