A case study in how a killer idea and on-form cast can come together to not quite work, this long-delayed effort centres on a picture-perfect ‘family’ whose entire lives are a form of guerrilla marketing. By their attractive, high-gloss, perfectly dressed examples they become style leaders in their small town, sending sales of everything they touch skyrocketing — until their own relationships, and the relentless pressure of seeming perfection, sends them faltering.
Both Demi Moore and David Duchovny remind us why they used to be huge, but while the attacks on consumer culture are largely effective, by portraying the ‘family’s’ employers in a cuddly rather than rapacious light the drama is drained of tension and the satire deprived of teeth.