Gal Gadot has proven himself as a skilled action star in countless action, thriller and sci-fi films. Playing the main role in wonder woman and many other DC installments, appearing in the fast furious action franchise, starring in action comedy red noticeand billed for the upcoming action thriller, Stone heart, she established herself as an adept action star, while maintaining her sophisticated and sultry style. We’re used to seeing her play the majority of those roles directly, which the spy comedy Follow the Jonesesdirected by Greg Mottola, allowed him to step away, subverting the slender, under-recognizable character, in order to lean into a more comedic role. In this movie, Gal Gadot gets the chance to show off her comedic chops.
Follow the Joneses sees husband and wife duo Natalie (Gadot) and Tim Jones (Jon Hamm) move into Karen (fisherman’s island) and Jeff Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis) suburban neighborhood. This couple, with their traditional beauty, style and charm, enchants Jeff but makes Karen suspicious. It turns out Karen’s instincts were good, and as undercover spies, the Joneses are certainly not all they seem. However, this cover is only part of the duplicity, and Gal Gadot’s art of comedy in this film is to play with this duplicity: playing the role of a suburban housewife goddess, while her real spy is desperate to burst.
Gal Gadot plays the perfect wife and neighbor
In our first real introduction to the Joneses, Jeff comes home from work to find that Karen has invited Natalie and Tim over to their house. Gadot as Natalie greets Jeff with a sparkling smile and an upbeat song “We’re the Joneses”, summing up their projected wholesome image as a couple. Pretending to be a social media consultant who writes a cooking blog on the side, with free time to volunteer for a charity for orphans, Natalie’s facade is hilarious and perfect, mimicking the modern trope of “woman who asset”. The earnestness with which Gadot delivers these lines – and these lies – is brilliant, and the gentleness with which she responds to Hamm’s character is the epitome of a docile, lovable partner. Tilting her head to one side while gently shaking it, she insists to Karen and Jeff that theirs is “such a beautiful street”, further reinforcing the good neighbor image.
With her white dress and cardigan, Natalie is almost the picture of purity and innocence – but the cut-out, slightly risque element of the dress hints that there’s something more subversive about her character. Clearly, she’s more than a charming social media consultant, and the sense that there’s something else bubbling beneath the surface makes the primitive, appropriate act all the more fun. It is this masquerade that allows Gadot to engage in substantial comic play.
Gal Gadot uses physical comedy to shine
Gadot not only uses subtle head movements to convey the duality and cunning of her character. Usually recognized as an action star, audiences can expect a level of physical expertise in her roles. However, as discussed previously, in Follow the JonesesGadot also uses his physique to great comedic effect.
During the community yard party, Natalie is “taught” by one of the men to throw a dart – which, to anyone who’s seen Gadot in an action movie, is already laughable. She subtly mocks the distraught neighbor by miming how she should throw the dart according to her teaching. Her act hilariously underlines the cliché of a man condescendingly providing a pointless explanation, which she immediately shuts down when she proceeds to throw three darts in her style, using impeccable aim to hit her target. The icing on the cake is her surprised reaction, as if it was all just a fluke.
Later, the suspicious Karen spies on Natalie and follows her to a clothing store. Natalie catches her red-handed in the fitting rooms and proceeds to distract her from her correct assumptions, talking and making seductive gestures about the lingerie she’s trying on. Using his physique to overpower the smaller Fisher, Gadot’s character uses intimidation to confuse his nosy neighbor. This subverts her usual sexiness and model figure in comical ways, behaving in this way to mask her true intentions and confuse Karen.
When the mask falls, Gal Gadot’s comedy holds up
Undercover spy Natalie is clearly so comfortable with the double life she leads that one of the funniest moments in the film is when, after a car chase scene, she placidly discusses Sudoku. a diary with Tim. However, there are times throughout the film where his true personality begins to emerge, with comedic results. At the yard party, she dresses more provocatively than the others, unnecessarily wearing a dress with a very low back, similar to when she first met the Gaffneys with her cut-out style dress. This alludes to her later admission of not really liking the dead-end lifestyle: during an argument with Tim sparked by the Gaffneys’ intrusion, she has an outburst that “it’s the suburbs! It’s hard. Don’t you understand? The women here are vicious. This breakdown of his outward personality is as entertaining as the personality itself, due to his honest frustration calling suburban women “vicious.”
During Natalie’s argument with her husband, we see the pretense dissolve further, as Gadot launches into a stream of Hebrew, displaying her character’s authentic self and also using the stream of her native language to convey her domestic annoyance to Tim. When the duplicity is finally shattered, surrounding her profession, how she feels about suburbia, and the news that Tim is questioning their career path, this new found honesty and vulnerability is sympathetic and fun. During their bickering, she asks her husband, “So now you want me to dress like some kind of asexual elementary school nurse?” following that cheekily with, “no offense Karen”.
Future Movies Should Take Note Of Gal Gadot’s Untapped Comedic Potential
Gadot impresses with her take on the suburban housewife trope, her use of physical comedy, and her startling vulnerability. She’s standing up to Hamm, Fisher and Galifianakis who have proven themselves in comedies on several occasions — Isla Fisher, in particular, after wrapping filming for season 2 of the horror-comedy “Wolf Like Me” — and brings a flavor unique to comedy film. . Interestingly, both Gadot’s performance as his character’s fake personality and during times of stress when the cracks start to show, seem to offer unflattering commentary on suburbia – as if that community is the real lie and that she was just holding a mirror. at that, mocking.
Now that wonder woman 3 would not take place, Gal Gadot’s calendar is theoretically freer. So, for movies aiming to keep it fresh and interesting: let Gadot have the last laugh.
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