Have you heard the one about the
drug dealer, the stripper, the teenage runaway and the weird kid? No? That’s
probably because the joke doesn’t exist because there’s no way it will be any
good BECAUSE…even as a joke, it doesn’t fly. The quasi-raucous road romp, We’re the Millers, is a basic RV awning of
a setup under which lies a mess of inappropriate gags and cheap shots intended
to besmirch political correctness.
Director Rawson Marshall Thurber
(Dodgeball) does what he can with
this fantastical yet undersold concept about a slovenly pusher (Jason Sudeikis)
who enlists the help of some societal misfits to pretend to be his wholesome, white
bread family in order to help him smuggle a huge haul of drugs back across the border
from Mexico undetected.
Straight away, you may be
thinking that middle-aged white men who make a living wage selling pot are in
extinction. You’d more than likely be right in reality but this film doesn’t
care. Sudekis’ character, David, is like the cinematic equivalent of the Hula
painted frog, resurfacing in Denver and rediscovered by a former college buddy played
by the always-funny Thomas Lennon who immediately asserts “you’re still dealing
weed?!” See! Even the characters themselves don’t buy the characterisations. Worse
still, casting the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts in roles with
conflictingly disagreeable personas in comparison to their own created nothing more than awkwardness.
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| Family bonding with Em and Jen |
What’s funny about the film –
only in increments – are the very things that were meant to be of secondary
importance: the marginally offensive social and racial commentaries; the brief cameos;
the latent familial instincts coming out of the makeshift crew and the
lesser-known Will Poulter, whose conscientious cloddishness as the virginal
Kenny is a playful counterblow to his new unethical friends’ proclivities.
We’re the Millers is a watchable film rather than anything vying
for top spot with the stronger comedies that have come out this year. It’s much
more likeable than it is laughable.
Rating: 3/5
