The cons should leave the audience a little breathless; instead, Borte goes for an indistinct tone and suburban-malaise vibe that was dated (as well as patronizing) when American Beauty came out. full review

There's a nicely cynical streak at the heart of The Joneses, until Borte goes soft and lets the audience off the hook. full review

Mr. Borte conjures up a pleasant Stepford that runs less on robotic conformity than on endless, anxious competition. The key to the film is that it allows this life to have some real appeal. full review

A cheeky little commentary on modern consumption, The Joneses offers an uneasy balance between what's funny and what's not, staying just edgy enough to be uncomfortable while hitting its targets. full review

[Demi Moore is] She's one reason to see writer-director's Derrick Borte's zeitgeist fable The Joneses. Though she's not the only one. full review

It makes for good, although not great, satire of the consumer culture that helped wreck the economy. full review

By the end, The Joneses feels a little too satisfied with its own admittedly clever conceit and for the broad leeway it allows itself in the creative bandying of logos and slogans. full review

The Joneses is a black comedy about stealth marketing made by a filmmaker who's evidently much too close to the subject to bite the hand that feeds him. full review

The all-important production design perfectly captures a generation of unthinking consumers. And Moore and Duchovny, who have great chemistry, are strong enough to make the most of a script that really needed another rewrite. full review

You walk out of it thinking, that's totally plausible and, while sick, a great idea. full review

The premise of this social satire is so enjoyable you keep trying to believe it even though it makes no sense full review

Crass materialism and ridiculous marketing ploys are skewered by writer/director Derrick Borte in this uneven cautionary tale that starts off incisively funny, then devolves into preachiness. full review

Almost everything about The Joneses, from the transparent plot twists to the winking irony of the golf-course patter, falls flat. full review

In its amiable, ambling way, The Joneses is a zeitgeist film: it says as much as a Michael Moore screed about the American way of debt. full review

The Joneses is a list of grievances nailed to the door of the Church of Materialism, but the hammer never hits the audience's fingers. full review

Sometimes the social satire is a bit too obvious, but thanks to a smart screenplay and excellent performances, "The Joneses" is largely successful in delivering on its intriguing premise. full review

The film asks welcome questions about what price we should be willing to pay for "the good life," but ultimately it can't close the deal. full review

A generic hash of contrived comedy, romance, and tragedy, the saddest part of which is that a way-cool, high-end riding lawn mower winds up at the bottom of someone's swimming pool. full review

In an entertaining way, the movie says something challenging, that it's possible to lose your life to stuff -- and never even know it. full review