KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES (Rated PG-13)

A spy movie spoof done right can be a lot of fun. Melissa McCarthy bounced back from the dreadful “Tammy” with a nice comedic turn in “Spy,” playing the part of a tourist caught up in international intrigue.

The same idea in “Keeping Up with the Joneses” does not work quite so well for Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher, the ordinary suburban couple Jeff and Karen Gaffney living a drab middle-class existence that is upended by the arrival of new neighbors who turn out to be spies.

The Joneses, apparently not clever with good cover names, are Tim and Natalie (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot, respectively), who move into a neighboring house on the nondescript cul-de-sac next to Karen and Jeff.

With the kids away for summer camp, the Gaffneys were hoping to have alone-time to rekindle their romantic fire. Instead, they become distracted by the new neighbors who exhibit the type of sophistication and style that is out-of-place in their neighborhood.

Tim Jones claims to be an accomplished travel writer whose hobbies include blowing his own glass sculptures and his wife Natalie is a social media consultant, cooking blogger and heroine to the plight of Sri Lankan orphans.

Karen Gaffney is immediately suspicious of the glamorous couple, asking “Why would people this attractive and accomplished ever want to live here?” She becomes so obsessed with the neighbors that she tails Natalie all over town to shopping malls.

One thing we learn is that the statuesque Natalie is stunningly sexy when standing around in a changing room dressed in black lingerie that might have looked good decades ago on Cher.

Meanwhile, Jeff has taken a new buddy approach to Tim, seeing in him the type of “cool” friend he doesn’t have at his aerospace firm because he’s stuck in a mundane human resources position that no one respects.

I think it was meant to be very funny that Tim takes Jeff to lunch at an underground Chinese restaurant that serves meals of exotic wildlife, and Tim responds that Panda Express does not serve its namesake as a meal.

Prodded by his skeptical wife, Jeff is soon ensnared in snooping on the Joneses only to discover that they really are covert secret agents, and now Jeff and Karen are in the crosshairs of some very bad people.

The Joneses suspect that an engineer at Jeff’s aerospace company is selling top secrets to an arms dealer, who turns out to be Patton Oswalt, a patently unfunny character who is as realistic in this role as would be one of the Three Stooges.

In any case, notwithstanding an extended car chase that seems gratuitously tossed in just so the movie has a decent action scene, “Keeping Up with the Joneses” is regrettably too lackluster and predictable.

There are a few laughs sprinkled throughout, many at the expense of other women acting out of petty jealousies directed to Natalie. Overall, “Keeping Up with the Joneses” is a bland comedy that is mostly a dead-end for laughs.

TV Corner: 'The Crown' on Netflix

Netflix is going all out in a very big, splashy and expensive way for “The Crown,” a new British series about the British monarchy under the long-running rule of Queen Elizabeth II.

This elaborate production, which has not stinted one bit for recreating the lavish style of the royal family, should easily rival “Downton Abbey” for the attention of those craving a British costume drama.

The story of “The Crown” begins shortly after the end of World War II when Britain is still reeling from wartime devastation, and the nation is mesmerized by the nuptials of the beautiful young princess Elizabeth (Claire Foy) to the dashing Philip Mountbatten (Matt Smith).

Princess Elizabeth expected to have many years of married bliss while her husband’s career in the Navy would flourish. But that came to an abrupt end when her father King George VI died unexpectedly.

At the tender age of 25, Princess Elizabeth inherits the Crown and the unimaginable burdens that it brings. As to be expected, the new Queen has to deal with men who doubt her capacity to be the figurehead leader of her country.

There’s great history in the relationship of the young monarch and her affinity for Sir Winston Churchill (John Lithgow), who is seen by many as too old to serve as leader of Great Britain in his role as Prime Minister.

And then there’s the scandal of the Queen’s younger sister, Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), having an affair with Peter Townsend (Ben Miles), a trusted officer of the British royal household.

While the respected Churchill is a known figure to American audiences, other political persons and events may not resonate too well.

Nevertheless, the intrigue may prove fascinating or tedious, depending on your point of view or depth of understanding of British politics.

Netflix has already made a second season commitment to “The Crown,” allowing writer Peter Morgan (“Frost/Nixon” and “The Queen”) and his team to further a series that could take years to complete.

The words of a press release note that Peter Morgan is granted the “creative freedom to tell the story of the world’s most famous family with the scale and elegance it deserves,” and “The Crown” seems poised to do just that, maybe for some time to come.
  
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.