And American obsession with the citizen-spy continues unabated. It is not enough for us to worship at the altar of superspies through the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises; we fancy ourselves one-and-all as wielders of surreptitious justice and ass-kickings. But, of course, normal people can’t have these professions, so spy films with ordinary folks are all comedies. Some of these films work, and some just sort of stare at you, imagining a world in which we find Zach Galifianakis going undercover a laugh riot.
To be frank, I wasn’t terribly amused last week when Zach stole $17M, so you’re asking bunch from me, Keeping Up with the Joneses.
Jeff and Karen Gaffney (Galifianakis and Isla Fisher) are cul-de-sac suburbians. Their hand-picked mediocrity is intended to reflect that of their (white) audience: Jeff is a pushover HR guy at a rocket science company; mother-of-two Karen does the kind of interior design where she has no clientele. They live in a pretty nice house for folks who don’t seem terribly successful. By contrast, the most attractive couple ordinary people ever meet have just moved next door. They are Bridget and Indiana, er, that’s Tim and Natalie Jones (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot), and even the daftest of neighbors -or audience members for that matter- understand something is up with these guys. Keeping Up with the Joneses is both unsubtle and timid – this is the kind of film which dares parade around both Fisher and Gadot in expensive lingerie, but never leads to anything truly risqué on film. The Gaffneys sudden freedom from their summer-camped boys prompts imaginary sex and reality Tivo.
This is the third “Jones” in a 2016 movie title. Who can keep up?
To nobody’s surprise, Ed “Too Tall” and Shirley, er Tim and Natalie are, indeed, spies itching to get closer to Jeff’s work. The film gleefully milks the contrast between the Gaffney’s collective naïveté with the sophistication of the Joneses. It gets less mileage comparing the affability of the Jeff Gaffney to the silence of Jon Hamm. So, how are the Gaffneys involved and whose side are the Joneses on … and, more importantly, what PG fun can go on in the spy world? (The answer, btw, is lingerie displays and underground, black-market, snake-based cuisine.)
I did say ”timid,” right? Yeah, Davy and Norah, er Terry and Lolo, er Chipper and Catherine Zeta, er Tommy Lee and Free State of, er Tim and Natalie are friends! No matter whose side anybody is on, the 
deaths and the frowns are quickly resolved. This is spy stuff written by somebody who, quite clearly, only understands spydom from TV shows like “Get Smart.” The result is amiable and forgiving, but at the same time tepid and empty. I kept wondering if I was supposed to laugh. I didn’t.
Does everybody else just love Zach Galifianakis but me? It’s not like I hate the guy, but I get the distinct impression that I’m supposed to guffaw the second he hits the screen and it just ain’t happenin’. In Keeping Up with the Joneses, Zach gets to have an IQ slightly higher than one of his ferns, which makes for a tiny improvement on Masterminds. Like the latter, however, I was constantly waiting for a good reason to keep watching this film.
♪I see the neighbors cross the way
With an expensive array
Of toys that make the chaos bloom
I make up stories in my mind
To explain the things I find
In their upstairs excluded room
Just the two of them
I have no idea why
Just the two of them
Just the two of them
Need to answer my reply
Just the two of them
Her and him♫
Rated PG-13, 105 Minutes
D: Greg Mottola
W: Michael LeSieur
Genre: ♪Everybody loves a spy. Why don’t you?
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The Isla Fisher deprived
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Actual spies
♪ Parody inspired by “Just the Two of Us”
