The Joneses
Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 30
  3. Negative: 1 out of 30
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  1. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    Slick as a pig and reeking of phony sympathy for recession-wracked consumers, The Joneses is a black comedy about stealth marketing made by a filmmaker who's evidently much too close to the subject to bite the hand that feeds him.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 32 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Erik_Imsen
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. The Joneses, or how to come up with a great idea and be unable to do anything with it. Why? Lazy writing. What started out to be a great satire, dark and cynical, turns out to be a soft romantic comedy in between Duchovny and Moore, with all the other characters being solely here as extras (what was the point of the son's coming out again?!?!??! And the daughter's love story with a married guy?!?!?). And once again, Hollywood couldn't help but make a cheesy happy ending with the two ending together, and the movie ends on a let's-not-piss-our-audience-off-this-is-entertainment-goddam-it note, that clearly states that over consumption and credit card debt should in no way be blamed on irresponsible consumers behavior (let's not insult our audience please) but only on those mean and evil marketing guys who mess up with our brains and make us wanna get always more stuff. The film almost feels as if Derrick Borte started writing it with pure intentions and then some advertising executive stormed into his office and made him write the second and third act of the script with a gun to his head.… Full Review »
  2. dev92
    7
    This was a surprisingly enjoyable film. I had never heard of the film before I saw it on TV but the premise intrigued me so I took a chance. Mulder acted extremely well, Amber Heard probably gave her best performance and as per usual Gary Cole was phenomenal. The storyline was fantastic and had it been paced ever so slightly quicker I think I would have given this a 9. I felt it waned ever so slightly in the middle. Still, more than worth a view and I would definitely recommend it!… Full Review »
  3. MorriBey
    6
    David Duchovny is excellent in this movie. Its a good movie but I cant help feeling that the studios saw a movie that was too dark ( which it scratched towards the latter part of the movie ) and polished it off. The result has changed what could have been a dark movie into an enjoyable Sunday afternoon movie. The ending kills off any notion of it being alternative. I liked it, just felt that there was something else there which was unfortunately sidelined.… Full Review »
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