Joneses

Year: 2009

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Borte

Review

spoilers. loved the commentary here which worked in a lot of different ways. when cole kills himself he literally drowns in symbols of his debt. he, himself, is a symbol of the over-spending american who just wants to keep up with the joneses in the best way he knows how. i like literal commentaries like this, maybe because i’m a simpleton. as good as all that was, though, i wasn’t sure about the tone of the picture. it was between dramatic and comedic and didn’t hit either as hard as i would have liked. i suppose that’s better than trying and coming off as cliche or overwrought, though, so i can’t fault it too much. it’s a tough balance to achieve, especially with a film like this. the film would have been better off in sam mendes’ hands as he’s a modern director who does the vapid american couple commentary film as well as anyone and can do comedy and drama equally well.

Watched in theater