Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Gal Gadot, Jon Hamm, and fan favorite Patton Oswalt along with director Greg Mottola (Superbad), couldn't save their 2016 action comedy, Keeping Up With the Joneses. The film should have been a solid comedy hit, but instead tanked at the box office and was savaged by critics and audiences alike. However it has found new life on streaming, and sits at number four on Max's Top 10.
Keeping Up With the Joneses had the star power and director to get audiences excited about the film. Galifianakis was riding high with the Hangover trilogy, as Hamm earned major praise and awards as Don Draper on Mad Men (which ended the year before). Meanwhile, Gadot had been cast as Wonder Woman and appeared in Fast & Furious 6. Fisher appeared in hits like Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic.
The plot seems to be in the vein of Mr. & Mrs. Smith:
An ordinary suburban couple finds it’s not easy keeping up with the Joneses — their impossibly attractive and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors — especially when they discover Mr. and Mrs. Jones are covert spies embroiled in international espionage.
The film earned a pitiful $5.4 million domestic haul during its opening weekend in October 2016, eventually limping its way to nearly $30 million worldwide. And considering the production budget was only $40 million, it could have been a much bigger bomb. Critics weren't so kind: it sits at a rotten 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences weren't much kinder, giving it just 37%. The consensus on RT says the film wasted the cast and interesting concept with an ultimately unfunny film.
Yet it is a streaming hit on Max. It's not a bad film to waste a couple of hours watching on a rainy or snowy day. Despite the lack of laughs, there is still enough action and star power to keep viewers entertained. Both Fisher and Galifianakis have perfected the "average suburban couple" trope, while Gadot and Hamm are cast well as the perfect neighbors who happen to be super spies.
The Cast Rebounded with Bigger Hits
Despite being a largely forgotten critical and box office misfire, the cast of Keeping Up With the Jonses bounced back pretty quickly. Gadot's Wonder Woman was a major critical and box office hit just months later in 2017, while Fisher has appeared in multiple hit shows and movies, including Curb Your Enthusiasm and Wolf Like Me.
Hamm went on to appear in shows like Good Omens, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Morning Show, and Landman. Galifianakis has lent his voice to different animated films and shows, such as The Lego Batman Movie and Bob's Burgers, and appeared in Only Murders in the Building with Martin Short and Steve Martin.
If you're looking to binge-watch an ultimately lighthearted action / espionage / comedy, you could do worse than Keeping Up With the Joneses. It would make a solid double feature with Mr. & Mrs. Smith (the film) when it arrives at Hulu on Feb. 1.
