- 'The Joneses' are your neighbors and peers, i.e., people at the same social level as yourself.
-"Keeping Up"- means staying with the rest of the group.
-Finally the source of the Phrase "Keeping up with the Jones"- is to keep pace and appeared in the phrase 'keeping up with the Joneses'
which was coined in 1913 by cartoonist Arthur R. Momand
for the title of a series in the New York Globe. It means "trying to match the lifestyle of one's more affluent neighbors or acquaintances."
For example, 'Their buying a new van is just another attempt to keep up with the Joneses.'
I open my review with this because the exploitation of the competitive nature of neighbors and the Family unit (made up of salesmen on commission headed by Demi Moore's character)
is Well Represented and Modeled as the new norm for marketing and selling for 2010 in this movie. As I roughly knew the definition of this wise saying
I wanted to see what this movie would do. The movie addressed the topic of the Emotional self (a blind spot that Society does not address in education or
real understanding) vs. Capitalism (which validates emotions to be used for successful product creating, selling and advertising).
In this movie, peers and neighbors are a new avenue to sell and better track the impact of sales which I believe the Lauren Hutton's character helps the audience stay on track as well as the David Duchovny character to be the main goal and the right reason for living (and working which in this story is both).
The Duchovny Character forced me to look at my comfort level of buying as well as how I recommend products to my friends and family because the product has worked well in my life and
may help my friend or neighbor in theirs. What I enjoyed about this movie is that the emotions had to be looked at --because when the materials are continuously supplied and secure--the emotional emptiness which is never looked at ( yet motivates the need to buy and the need to win) is loud demanding Demi and DAvid's attention. This movie showed that the emotional involvement is more colorful than the white and crystal house the Family Unit resides.
The movie shows the line that real issues cannot be merchandise or commission solve. The movie shows salesman "charisma and magnetism" that Demi's character points as the asset of the Family Unit comes from a heart place
in David Duchovny. He tries to use his heart in order to help these people he works and lives with so they all could move forward in their lives. I liked that we find out that the Duchovny character was trying the family life as a test run and with him I found he wanted
it with the caring part and the emotional messiness.
This is not a weak movie and for me and the movie's use of the everyday- ness reminds me that we impact each other. This movie served as a great reminder what has become normal and of why 'Keeping up with the Joneses' should stay in 1913.
The Jones keep up - GreenRaider - Dallas, TX
Can you buy happiness? Not according to The Joneses. How you spend has a greater effect on your happiness than how much you spend, researchers say. "But Will It Make You Happy?" [...]
This smart movie explores our attempt to find happiness through competitive and conspicuous consumption, and the perils along the way. It will make you think twice about your early adopter friends. Are they really into those gadgets, or do they have another agenda. It will make you look at advertising in a new light. What is advertising? What is not.
David Duchovny is fantastically funny. This is a fun, stimulating movie.
The Joneses [Blu-ray]
WHAT WILL THEY SELL NEXT? - Michael Ledo - Windsor, SC United States
The starts out with the perfect family moving onto a posh community. Their home is perfect and they have all the high tech gadgets to the envy of all their neighbors. However you start to realize not everything is normal behind the scenes as the parents sleep in saparte bedrooms. When the daughter sneaks into her dad's bedroom (brief nudity) mom has to drag her out. The "secret" we find out about 20 minutes into the movie is that this family is a plant and not really a family. Their job is to make friends with everyone and show off the products so others will buy them. Their success is measured by how much luxury stuff their neighbor's buy to keep up with them. The real story comes as their perfect world unravels during a music montage as their own life gets in the way of their facade. The acting is good with strong performances by all the main characters. Today computer companies do this type of thing by placing a shill in someplace like Starbucks pretending to be a regular guy when they are actually trying to soft sell a labtop.
Ther movie is amusing, but not laugh out loud funny. It is heart warming, but doesn't make you cry. It moves along at a good pace.
The movie shows a great juxtaposition with the neighbor, who tries to be a great cosmic salesperson by listening to motivation tapes.
worth a watch - Bradley W. Bleck - Spokane, WA USA
An interesting examination of consumerism. The "happy ending" blunts the messages, takes the focus from what would seem to be the main point, that keeping up with the Joneses will wreak havoc with our personal finances, that "he who dies with the most/best toys wins" is a load of bunk. Instead, it becomes about personal redemption, (spoiler alert) and boy gets girl. Would have preferred the "unhappy" ending so the critique of consumer culture had a bit more "stickiness."
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