On the Couch

Life in the American suburbs doesn’t half come in for a kicking from filmmakers.
Whatever end of the spectrum portrayed – the rich, the poor or the comfortable middle – there is always a thin veneer of normality laid on top of a bubbling, babbling brook of tongue-wagging, arm-flailing craziness.

So meet The Joneses. A perfect family with perfect things that just make you want to be more like them. Of course, this aura of aspiration isn’t an accident. Oh no. The handsome dad with the perfect golf swing, the beautiful wife with her amazing everything and their beautiful kids with every toy a teen could want are salespeople.
Hucksters. Plants. Stealth marketeers whose sole purpose is to live a life you could only dream of and then tell you what to buy so you can be just like them.
Which is a brilliant idea when you think about it. Evil, but brilliant.
But while the Joneses appear perfect to their neighbours, discontent is growing within their ranks. Daddy Steve (David Duchovny) begins to question the morality of what they’re doing, the kids (Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth) succumb to the vagaries of teen life and the mother (Demi Moore) – the de facto team leader – worries about losing control of the whole operation while trying not to fall for her “husband”.
One of the most surprising things about Derrick Borte’s directorial debut is how well Duchovny and Moore come out of it.
Think about it, when the last time you saw a film with either one in it and thought, “Now I remember why they were famous – they’re really good at, y’know, acting and the like.”
Well this is that movie. A small, clever rip on marketing, consumerism and greed that doesn’t overextend itself or forget that beyond making Important Statements™, a film is supposed to be entertaining.
In fact, the whole cast does a good job of being “perfect” but not annoyingly so while Gary Cole is brilliant as the tightly wound neighbour desperate to find something, anything, to spice up his life.
A lot of the humour stems from the growing realisation of how easily people’s buying habits can be influenced and watching how the various team members go about their dirty business.
The shift into more serious territory isn’t jarring though is and as the laughs decrease the more serious implications of stealth marketing become apparent the story continues to be interesting without being preachy… Until the last few minutes which, while slightly annoying, do little to dispel the good will the rest of the flick earned and so richly deserves.
Flying the flag for the less affluent arm of the suburbs is Mike Judge’s Extract.
Judge has been plowing the rich fertile comedic soil of a very special brand of US moron for many years. From Beavis and Butthead to King of the Hill, Office Space to Idiocracy the american director has revelled in the bland stupidity of daily life – particularly the corporate kind – and so it is here.
Jason Bateman stars as Joel Reynolds, the owner and founder of Reynold’s Extract, a flavor-extract company. Bored with his work life and frustrated in his marriage Reynolds comfortable, but boring bubble is burst by a series of odd coincidences that sends his life spinning off the rails.
First up his floor manager loses a testical in an industrial accident; then there’s a unfortunate arrangement involving strong drugs, strong drink and a male gigalo and finally there’s a con woman – a very pretty con woman in the form of Mila Kunis.
As ridiculous as it might sound on paper, all these elements are tied up quite coherantly and, more importantly, hilariously without ever descending into a farce.
Bateman is a brilliant straight man and takes the many shots life takes at him on the chin. JK Simmons adds his unmistakable brand of grumpiness as his business partner who refers to all of their employees as “dinkus”; his wife played by Kirsten Wiig is believably disgruntled and Mila Kunis is beguiling, if slightly undernourished story-wise, as the con artist Cindy.
As entertaining as Extract is, however, it leaves you feeling like there could, or should, have been more to it. Not that anything is obviously missing from the film – it’s just that for all its fun, it’s just not quite as satisfying as one would like.