Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)

Keeping Up with the Joneses wastes an interesting cast on an action-thriller-romantic-comedy that doesn't do justice to any of those genres!

Let me start with the positives: the movie is fast-paced and you don't feel the passage of time that much. The characters played by Gal Gadot and Zach Galifianakis are likeable, but Jon Hamm (as much as I'm still a fan of his Don Draper in Mad Men) couldn't pull off the action hero, and was barely okay. Isla Fisher's character was just a suburban mom, and didn't have much depth.

The screenwriters and the director tried to cover four different genres, but failed to deliver a cohesive presentation. If I break the movie into three parts, the first 20-30 minutes was a comedy, then thrills and action sequences for the second part, and finally romance and a little action to cap off the movie. Keeping Up with the Joneses was trying hard to emulate the success of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), or even Killers (2010) with Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. Let me just briefly talk about the genuine article: Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Brangelina managed to deliver action, romance, and comedy throughout the film at rather high quality. Keeping up with the Joneses, on the other hand, had a hard time deciding on its tone and identity.

To sum up: it's not the worst way to spend your time. It actually goes by quite fast. But it's a pity to see such talent not used to its potential. I'd give it a 5.5/10.

Side note: the score of the movie was ridiculous.
Side note 2: we had another action comedy in 2016 called Grimsby. Save your time and money and go watch that superior movie.