Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)

“Keeping Up with the Joneses” stars Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher, and Gal Gadot.  Released on October 21, 2016, the film is about a suburban couple who discovers that their new neighbors are government spies.
 
The film is directed by Greg Mottola, who also directed The Daytrippers, Superbad, Adventureland, Paul, and Clear History.  There really isn’t that much for me to explain about this latest action comedy, other than the fact that it had a pretty good cast and a funny trailer.  Galifianakis didn’t lure in that much of an audience in his last film, Masterminds, even though I enjoyed that one, so he thought that being in an action comedy would do the trick.  Unfortunately, in terms of box office, that didn’t work out either.  But I couldn’t resist seeing it just for curiosity’s sake because that’s how I roll.
 
Pros:
The performances were fine.
 
Cons:
The story was unoriginal, bland, and predictable.

The humor fell flat despite a couple of funny moments.

The editing was a bit choppy at times.

The characters lacked depth.
 
Final thoughts: “Keeping Up with the Joneses” may have a shot of being one of my most disappointing films of 2016.  While I did enjoy a couple of moments involving the cast, it didn’t actually make me laugh as much as I wanted it to do.  It also didn’t help that the story suffered from unoriginality and some dumb characters.  If you’re looking for a couple of decent laughs or if you like one of the actors in the film, I would say it’s worth watching at a matinee price.      

D