REVIEW: We're the Millers

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

When Jason Sudeikis announced he wasn’t returning to Saturday Night Live next season, it didn’t surprise me. He spent a decade on the exhausting show and has done solid supporting work in big screen comedies (The Campaign, Horrible Bosses, Hall Pass) for several years. It was only a matter of time before the charismatic actor made the jump to headlining films, especially considering he’s a great fit for Vince Vaughn-style roles that the actual Vince Vaughn has gotten too rich and/or bored to sign on for.

We’re the Millers effectively harnesses Sudeikis’ particular comedic skill set. Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (who also helmed the Vaughn-starring Dodgeball), the movie introduces viewers to David Burke (Sudeikis), a low-level pot dealer whose clients include cubicle workers and soccer moms.

He’s not a scumbag: he refuses to sell to teenagers, and he’s soon relieved of his money and inventory when he tries to help a couple of kids being threatened by street punks. Now in debt to his sleazy supplier (Ed Helms), David is forced to take on a major assignment: head to Mexico and smuggle his boss’ latest shipment across the border in a giant RV.

He knows that a guy driving a giant camper alone will raise a ton of red flags, so he recruits several people from his apartment building to pose as his family. There’s wary stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston), dorky neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter) and homeless teen Casey (Emma Roberts).

None of them get along and all of them are fairly certain the plan will probably land them in prison. Nonetheless, whether it’s for the big paycheck (David, Rose, Casey) or just a chance for companionship (Kenny), they go through with the crazy scheme anyway.

Typically when a movie has four credited screenwriters (Bob Fisher, Steve Faber, Sean Anders and John Morris, in this case) there’s cause for concern. And We’re the Millers definitely feels fragmented, with some roller coaster-sized ups and downs in the laugh department. Still, there’s a solid ratio of guffaws to groaners, and the chemistry among the fake family leads to some great fights and sweet-but-twisted parental pep talks.

Sudeikis ably carries the film, though he gets some big help from Aniston – who I like when she manages to emerge from Rachel Green’s shadow – and the hilariously weird Poulter. The scenes in which they interact with the goody-goody camping family played by Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn and Molly C. Quinn are also terrific.

Finally, there’s a blooper during the end credits that is worth the price of a ticket by itself. It would be a crime to spoil it here, but I think it made me laugh harder than anything else in the movie. It’s a great prank that results in a hilarious and genuinely sweet reaction from one of the actors. We’re the Millers won’t give This is the End or The Heat any competition for best comedy of the summer, but it’s still enjoyable enough to recommend. 

We're the Millers is rated R for crude sexual content, pervasive language, drug material and brief graphic nudity.

Grade: B-