Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Heard of “viral marketing”? It is the concept of a company selling things by identifying “trend-makers” on campuses or among the young and affluent, and paying them to promote the company’s products by using them and talking them up without letting on that they are paid salespeople.

The ambitious satire, “The Joneses”, takes viral marketing to a new level, creating an entire family of perfect style-setters. The company sets them up in a McMansion in a high-income gated community, with all the goodies—furnishings, cars, clothes and high-tech toys—needed to drive their neighbors wild with envy and straight into the nearest high-end store.

Of course, Jones is not their real name. In fact, they are a bunch of strangers, carefully selected salespeople hired to pose as a family and covertly sell, sell, sell.

“The Joneses” is a satire of consumerism gone wild, especially pointed now, and a brilliant idea for a film. But “The Joneses” falls short in execution, losing its nerve to bite the commercial hand that feeds it.

David Duchovny and Demi Moore star as Steve and Kate Jones, who have just moved into a huge new house along with their teenagers Jenn (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth). Although their furniture has just arrived straight from an Ethan Allan showroom, the Jones family eagerly welcomes neighbors Larry (Gary Cole) and Summer (Glenne Headly). Although Larry and Summer do not have children for Jenn and Mick to befriend, they do seem impressed with all the Jones’ stuff. Score one for the sales team.

Of course, all the neighbors are wowed by the new Jones family’s non-stop stream of new goodies, although there is some curiosity about exactly how they make a living. But the Joneses are just so likeable, everyone quickly stops asking questions and soon, the whole neighborhood is all about keeping up with the Joneses.

Out of the public eye, the Jones family is much more business-like, much to the disappointment of newest team member Steve, a former pro golfer and car salesman. Steve has romantic designs on Kate, the sales team leader, but Kate is focused on their sales numbers and their upcoming visit from corporate, in the form of Lauren Hutton.

The actors are all good, and there is a kind of off-beat chemistry between Duchovney and Moore. It is director Derrick Borte who loses his nerve in going for the satiric jugular.

Having set up its incendiary premise, the film loses steam as it unfolds. It offers some commentary on spending beyond one’s means and empty consumerism, but only obliquely. Ultimately, the film focuses more on romance and each family member’s desire for personal freedom, rather than on qualms about their unwitting customers. The focus becomes being true to one’s self, not questioning if one’s deceit is wrong.

One of the film’s problems is that it seems to strike a pose of snubbing product placement while simultaneously engaging in product placement. The film creates such a rosy picture of the Jones’ lavish lifestyle, paid for by the company, that audience members might be more prone to wonder how they could land that cushy job than to think there is something deeply creepy about the marketing strategy.

Strangely, when the Joneses begin to chaff in their fake roles, questions about giving up all that money hardly seemed to come up, unlike follow-your-heart platitudes.

That is not to say the film does not make some chilling points, just that is does not go far enough.

“The Joneses” is a good film with a premise that could have made it a great one. B –Cate Marquis