Keeping Up With Joneses 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
January 7th, 2017
If you missed KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES in theaters, then you probably blinked at the end of October. The film was dumped on a random weekend and left theaters almost as quietly. It has the ingredients to be a good film, but a tired premise and an unfunny script doomed Joneses to obscurity. Other than the natural charm of some of the stars, there’s not much to like here and the film proved to be a waste of the talents of everyone involved.
Jeff (Galifianakis) works as in the Human Resources department at a large aerospace company and is happily married to Karen (Fisher). Together, they have two children and live in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood, where everything is fine until their new neighbors move in. Almost immediately, they have suspicions that Tim (Hamm) and Natalie (Gal Gadot) are not who they claim to be. As they start to investigate, they quickly realize they were right and they eventually get caught up in a wild espionage adventure.
We’ve seen many action comedies where average people are thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Come to think of it, it feels like every action comedy has that basic plot. KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES offers nothing new to the genre and rather than rely on a witty script, the pressure falls on Zach Galifianakis to carry the film and the comedy. The problem with Galifianakis is that he’s only funny in really, really small doses. He cannot carry his own film and KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES is yet another example of that. He might have been able to do something with a decent script, but everything in this film feels silly or all-too-convenient to make sense.
Galifianakis can’t carry a film, but everyone involved was underused or not used very well. Jon Hamm is a funny guy as he proves consistently on random SNL appearances, but here he’s kept in check and used basically to stand around and look good. The same goes for Gal Gadot, who isn’t asked to do much than to look really good in lingerie. Then there’s Isla Fisher, who is a very beautiful, sexy, talented actress, but here were asked to believe she’s a tired housewife. Even then, the filmmakers still managed to find excuses to put her in skimpy clothes. I would say Fisher comes the closest to actually being funny, but she had almost nothing to work with.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES is a misfire on many levels, but with the poor effort and late October theatrical release dumping ground, it feels like everyone involved knew this wasn’t working. For the most part, I like all of the actors involved and director Gregg Mottola has an impressive TV resume and directed one of my favorite comedies (SUPERBAD), but this just wasn’t funny. Everyone involved deserved a better/funnier script and unfortunately, the talent involved was wasted.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: Details and colors feel a little flat. The scene where the foursome first meet is a good example; the textures and colors on Jeff’s shirt look saturated and even during the closeups, we don’t get the level of detail you’d expect in a 4K UHD. The interior of their house is very bland, but I would have expected with the HDR that you would get more clarity and detail than the Blu-ray, but that wasn’t really the case. The night scenes might have been worse. When Tim and Natalie were on the rooftop, you could barely distinguish between their black outfits and the night sky. Overall, this is a very disappointing presentation.
Audio: The 4K UHD features the same DTS track from the Blu-ray.
This title was reviewed using a Samsung UBD-K8500 with a Sony XBR75X850C TV.
The 4K UHD does not contain any exclusive features, but it does include a Blu-ray of the film, which has the following special features:
Spy Game (11:45): Fluff piece to get you excited for the movie.
Deleted Scenes (18:15): A handful of scenes that are not funny and were deservedly cut.
Keeping Up With Georgia (5:05): A fluff piece about the city of Atlanta.
Trailers and a Gallery
Click 4K Ultra HD to read more of our 4K reviews. And you can also follow us on Instagram (@flix66pics) to see previews of our upcoming 4K reviews and more pics of the packaging.
