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In this mild, superfluous action comedy from Superbad director Greg Mottola and screenwriter Michael LeSieur (You, Me and Dupree), Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher play Jeff and Karen Gaffney, parochial suburbanites who are enchanted by their exciting new cul-de-sac neighbors, Tim and Natalie Jones (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot), sophisticated jet-setters who might be spies. The Gaffneys are thus pulled into a formulaic espionage caper involving Jeff's HR job at an aerospace company, alternately gee-whizzing at how sexy and confident the Joneses are and having their feelings hurt by their un-neighborly deception. The laughs are hit-or-miss, occasionally buoyed by Galifianakis' random absurdity or a surprising sight gag but otherwise unremarkable. As a character, Jeff is more oblivious and stupid than my suspension of disbelief can withstand, and the Gaffneys and their friends are too often the subject of thinly veiled mockery over their provincial, rube-like attitudes. Hamm and Gadot are aces, though. The Joneses deserve better neighbors, and a better movie.
Official Site: www.foxmovies.com/movies/keeping-up-with-the-joneses
Director: Greg Mottola
Producer: Laurie Macdonald, Walter Parkes, Timothy Bourne and Marc Resteghini
Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot, Patton Oswalt, Ming Zhao, Matt Walsh, Maribeth Monroe, Michael Liu, Kevin Dunn, Dayo Abanikanda, Henry Boston and Jack McQuaid
Director: Greg Mottola
Producer: Laurie Macdonald, Walter Parkes, Timothy Bourne and Marc Resteghini
Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot, Patton Oswalt, Ming Zhao, Matt Walsh, Maribeth Monroe, Michael Liu, Kevin Dunn, Dayo Abanikanda, Henry Boston and Jack McQuaid
