KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES – Review

How’d that beloved tune from the “pre-fab four” go? “Another Pleasant Valley Sunday, here in status-symbol land”. Well, they might’ve been crooning about the locale of this new comedy. Everybody’s lawn is perfect, right out of AMERICAN BEAUTY. Maybe even “picture perfect”, but more than a bit dull. Some of the residents perhaps secretly hope that things will get shaken up a tad. Ah, be careful what you wish for, so goes the old saying. That’s what happened in the final John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd team-up in 1981, NEIGHBORS. But instead of that off-kilter, way-too friendly couple, the new arrivals bore more than a passing resemblance to MR. & MRS. SMITH (not the Hitchcock comedy, but the first pairing of Pitt and Jolie). That’s the premise, as two “normals” risk life and limb when they’re KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES.

The Gaffneys, Karen (Isla Fisher) and Jeff (Zach Gallifianakis), seem to be living the “American dream”. They’ve got two pre-teen boys and live in cozy two-story home in an up-scale cul-de-sac. Karen takes care of said home, while running a part-time interior design biz from the study. Jeff, like many of his neighbors, works at a big local aeronautics company. He heads the human resources department in one of the more popular offices. That’s because he has internet access (too many sensitive government projects are going on upstairs, so no web surfing). The Gaffneys are contemplating a romantic Summer when they load their boys into a bus bound for camp. As they clumsily try to heat things up (if ya’ know what I mean), a moving van pulls into the driveway of the empty house across the street. New neighbors! And quite a glamorous duo, it’s the Joneses, travel writer Tim (Jon Hamm) and food blogger Natalie (Gal Gadot). They soon pay the Gaffneys a visit, even bringing them a hand-crafted gift. Jeff develops a bit of a “man crush” on Tim, but Karen’s radar is activated. Something’s just not right about them. Tim just “happens” to run into Jeff and invites him to lunch where Tim is way too interested in Jeff’s routine job (and his co-workers). During a late night exploration of the Jones house, the Gaffneys discover a room full of surveillance tech and gadgets. Could they be spies? And who are there bosses? This could make things very awkward at the next block party!

“Huzzah!” and a hardy, heartfelt “Welcome back!” to Ms. Fisher, who has been absent from screens for three years (there was a cameo in her hubby’s THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY a few months ago). In her first major role since 2013’s LIFE OF CRIME, she is the story’s instigator, the person who really puts the events in motion. Fisher’s a great comic partner for Galifianakis, but also marvelous when she’s intimidated by Gadot in the big changing room scene (showcased in the trailers and TV ads). While her hubby goes into panic mode after a big chase/shoot-out, Karen is invigorated even getting a case of the “munchies”. This is a spirited energetic comic performance, perhaps her best work since her break-out role in (no!) 2005’s WEDDING CRASHERS. As for her on-screen hubby, Galifianakis is much more grounded than he was in the very recent dud MASTERMINDS, making Jeff less of an outlandish cartoon, more of a sometimes goofy, bewildered “guy next door” (maybe a distant, less fanatical cousin of Ned Flanders from TV’s “The Simpsons”). Yes, he’s got a weird fascination with home beer brewing and indoor sky-diving, but Jeff’s a dependable “Joe”, who’s pretty clumsy, but aways sees the best in people. Still, he’s yearning for something…

That yearning is somehow fulfilled by Hamm, who’s doing more than a riff on Bond. He treads a delicate line as Tim, who is engaged in a dance of seduction with Jeff in order to get needed intel. The surprise (especially for Tim) is that the funny, little fellow answers his own yearning for a human connection. The tough (always has a 5 o’clock shadow) agent really just wants a pal. Hamm has finally gotten a film role that allows him to shed the ultra-cool brooding Don Draper of “Mad Men”, while exercising his comic chops and flexing an action-hero swagger. Besides caring about Jeff, Tim is crazy about his wife played by new movie Wonder Woman Gadot as super model/assassin, deadly and gorgeous. Her Natalie is all business, and is genuinely stunned that her partner/hubby develops feelings for the “squares”. Her line delivery is more subtle and calculating, as in the aforementioned scene with Fisher. Natalie is playing with Karen, as a cat plays with a trapped mouse. Her explaining her accent by telling everybody that she’s from Greece (like a certain warrior princess) is a nice touch. As precise as Hamm’s Tim is, he barely holds his own while battling by her side. The great supporting cast includes several actors from the acclaimed HBO comedy “Veep”, namely Matt Walsh as Jeff’s neighbor/co-worker, Kevin Dunn as the company security chief, and another of the show’s guest stars in a most unexpected role.

Feature comedy director Greg  Mottola (SUPERBAD, ADVENTURELAND, PAUL) deftly guides this terrific ensemble, keeping the story flowing, and happily avoiding that deadly lull at the one-hour mark that derails many a funny flick. Michael LeSieur’s clever script delivers big laughs while making these characters feel real, never mere gag props. He also provides several great set pieces aside from the shoot-out and dressing room scenes. A lunch at a secret, exotic eatery is a true “gut-buster” (some entrees can bite back). Despite its PG-13 rating, this is a fairly adult story, but one that doesn’t depend on a barrage of “F-bombs” to prop up the plot. And hey, the best jokes aren’t in the trailer (just as with the new GHOSTBUSTERS and WAR DOGS), and it’s well under two hours (somebody knows how to edit!). You’ll have a most entertaining time watching and KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES.

4 Out of 5