Don't expect to go into this laughing all the way, as it just won't happen. And judging by the audiences reaction, it wasn't just me who felt this way. Outside of a few chuckles here and there, you could generally hear a pin drop.
As a comedy this just fails on all accounts. Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher play Jeff & Karen Gaffney, a married couple who learn they are getting new neighbours. They're told that the house was purchased outright, sight unseen, and it's suspected that these newcomers may not be who they seem for some reason. Turns out they're actually spies.
Jeff works as an HR rep for an aerospace company, so after these spies buy the house next to him, they invite themselves over and secretly bug the house in order to see what they know, if anything, about leaked secrets. Also by working in HR, the male spy befriends Jeff as he may know who has spilled secrets to him in confidence as he knows that Jeff's computer has been used to send secret e-mails.
After some mediocre and largely unfunny detective work by Karen in following the female spy into Bloomingdales, and then later discovering a bugging device in the art glass present they were given, it's revealed that they are indeed spies who are ingratiating themselves to everyone who works at the aerospace company and who they believe has information that can lead them to suspected espionage.
The plot is fairly formulaic in regards to uncovering the operation and in order to finally bring down the kingpin behind the whole affair, and after being exonerated of any espionage, Jeff and Karen are recruited to pose in place of the 2 spies, so they are effectively used as bait, and after some more ho-hum unfunny moments, the operation unravels itself, good guys win, bad guys die and everybody goes back to their lives.
Sadly this could have been a lot funnier had they not gone for ridiculous sight gags and obvious set-ups for the ensuing humour that followed. Personally I don't think Galifianakis is all that funny and he seemed bored from start to finish. There are a few moments where this generates a chuckle but not enough to call itself a comedy. It squanders a decent story by splicing in too many "here comes a joke" moments instead of just letting the comedy flow naturally. This could have been better written as an action film with the moments of levity thrown in and it would have had a much better reception. I gave this 3 stars mainly because the story IS interesting (albeit predictable), despite lacking any real humour. Don't waste your money to see this, wait for it to come out on TV and you'll enjoy it more.
As a comedy this just fails on all accounts. Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher play Jeff & Karen Gaffney, a married couple who learn they are getting new neighbours. They're told that the house was purchased outright, sight unseen, and it's suspected that these newcomers may not be who they seem for some reason. Turns out they're actually spies.
Jeff works as an HR rep for an aerospace company, so after these spies buy the house next to him, they invite themselves over and secretly bug the house in order to see what they know, if anything, about leaked secrets. Also by working in HR, the male spy befriends Jeff as he may know who has spilled secrets to him in confidence as he knows that Jeff's computer has been used to send secret e-mails.
After some mediocre and largely unfunny detective work by Karen in following the female spy into Bloomingdales, and then later discovering a bugging device in the art glass present they were given, it's revealed that they are indeed spies who are ingratiating themselves to everyone who works at the aerospace company and who they believe has information that can lead them to suspected espionage.
The plot is fairly formulaic in regards to uncovering the operation and in order to finally bring down the kingpin behind the whole affair, and after being exonerated of any espionage, Jeff and Karen are recruited to pose in place of the 2 spies, so they are effectively used as bait, and after some more ho-hum unfunny moments, the operation unravels itself, good guys win, bad guys die and everybody goes back to their lives.
Sadly this could have been a lot funnier had they not gone for ridiculous sight gags and obvious set-ups for the ensuing humour that followed. Personally I don't think Galifianakis is all that funny and he seemed bored from start to finish. There are a few moments where this generates a chuckle but not enough to call itself a comedy. It squanders a decent story by splicing in too many "here comes a joke" moments instead of just letting the comedy flow naturally. This could have been better written as an action film with the moments of levity thrown in and it would have had a much better reception. I gave this 3 stars mainly because the story IS interesting (albeit predictable), despite lacking any real humour. Don't waste your money to see this, wait for it to come out on TV and you'll enjoy it more.