Keeping Up with the Joneses (2013)

In a leafy suburb, "Celia" (Maxine Peake) is having her morning coffee when a stranger appears at her door asking for her MP husband. He's not at home, so she closes her door and returns to her kitchen - only to find the agitated "Jerry" (Adeel Akhtar) and his henchman-looking pal "Mick" (Geoff Ball) already helping themselves to her Darjeeling. Now we already know that "Gerry" is a little on the unstable side, so when they demand a meeting with her spouse she thinks it best and safest that they just politely wait for him to get home. A visit from her neighbour quickly disavows her of that theory and before we know it, they are on their way to the home of his mistress and that's where we start to feel a distinct shift in the dynamic between these three characters. There are the ingredients for something more here, but the delivery is all a bit flat and the writing does nothing to enhance the stereotype-busting characterisations - especially as we learn a little more about both "Celia" and the enigmatic "Mick". Akhtar is there to provide the comedy relief, but he overcooks what seems to have come more from the Hammer Horror book of axe-wielding jokes than from anything original, and the whole film sort of runs out of steam. The production has the look of a television episode to it and despite the potential from it's cast, I found it all a bit disappointing.