Keeping Up with the Joneses

Relentlessly bland and devoid of laughs, Keeping Up with the Joneses follows affable suburban couple Jeff (Zach Galifianakis) and Karen (Isla Fisher) as they become convinced that their new neighbors (Jon Hamm’s Tim and Gal Gadot’s Natalie) are, in fact, spies. There’s ultimately exceedingly little within Keeping Up with the Joneses worth getting excited about, as the movie suffers from a run-of-the-mill sensibility that’s compounded by a predictable narrative and ongoing emphasis on misguided comedic set-pieces. (The best example of the latter is surely a silly, unfunny sequence wherein Tim takes Jeff to an underground snake restaurant.) It is, as such, rather difficult to work up any genuine interest in or enthusiasm for the various characters’ exploits, although, at least, the somewhat unwatchable nature of Keeping Up with the Joneses‘ first act gives way to a second half that’s almost passable. (It’s all just so generic, though.) The actors’ uniformly solid efforts are, naturally, squandered by director Greg Mottola’s middle-of-the-road approach to Michael LeSieur’s paint-by-numbers screenplay, which is a shame, certainly, given the strength of, especially, Hamm’s agreeable turn as a conflicted international secret agent. (Galifianakis, on the other hand, isn’t doing anything here he hasn’t done countless times before.) It’s ultimately impossible not to wonder what drew the talented folks in front of (and behind) the camera to such stale material, and it’s difficult to envision even the most forgiving of comedy fans finding much worth embracing here.

** out of ****