Formerly in American society (say about until the last 30 years or so), the tendency was to take one’s friends and neighbors at face value. But as serial killers and terrorists increasingly became more “average” looking, our illusion of trust broke. In many cases where we would have previously given strangers and acquaintances the benefit of doubt, that is no longer the norm.
Conceptually, two new releases, “The Joneses” and “Kick-Ass,” play upon the theory that those ordinary citizens in our midst have ulterior (and sometimes deadly) motives. Both films share a satirical and caustic outlook while attacking American’s perceptions of how we view “ordinary” people.
First-time co-writer/director Derrick Borte’s “The Joneses” updates “Keeping Up with Joneses” for modern audiences as the seemingly perfect Joneses move into an upscale suburb of Georgia.
The Jones family, headed by Steve (David Duchovny) and Kate (Demi Moore) along with their children Mick (Ben Hollingsworth) and Jenn (Amber Heard), easily win the town over, but at a terrible cost.
The less said about the plot the better, as this contemporary take on modern American society is best seen without explanation. Duchovny and Moore, in their best performances in years, take characters who could be played as broad caricatures and infuse them with humanity.
Unfortunately, the writing doesn’t give as much leniency with the children, who are underused. In addition, the contrived Hollywood ending seems tacked on as if test audiences rejected a less optimistic outcome.
Matthew Vaughn’s take on Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.’s comic book, “Kick-Ass,” plays with the conventions of super heroes by presenting a story about ordinary people taking up costumes and vigilantism.
Initiated by geeky teenager, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who becomes the eponymous title character, the super hero craze continues with Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and her father Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Red Mist (“Superbad’s” Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Criminals, both petty and organized, had best fear for their livelihoods and lives.
Through a combination of violence and humor, “Kick-Ass” deconstructs the audience’s preconceptions of what defines a super hero. With likeable performances from Johnson and Moretz and another crazy, yet welcome, turn from Cage, the film allows the viewer to understand the notion that appearances can be deceiving.
“The Joneses” and “Kick-Ass” flip the audience’s awareness of well-tread (and quite often tired) genres. Though “The Joneses” has difficulty sustaining its initial themes into the final act, both films excel at bamboozling those around them while questioning our beliefs of private lives of those around us.
“The Joneses”: B-
“Kick-Ass”: A-
Ari Silber is a Loyola MBA student. Before graduate school, he worked for nine years in the Los Angeles film industry, focusing on marketing, publicity and distribution. He can be reached at [email protected]
