REVIEW: We're the Millers

3/10 - How come it's so hard to make Jason Sudeikis famous?

This movie sucks.

There is nothing about this that's funny, original, vaguely interesting or memorable. I'm having a hard time coming up with adequate words to explain how bad this is, and yet it has been a box office smash. I am deeply concerned for the state of comedy when regurgitated garbage is a runaway success.

Plot Summary: these four people are all shady, and of poor circumstances, and have to pretend to be upper middle class suburbanites, for pretty contrived reasons. Here's where this plot fails, it relies on the comedy being about exaggerated stereotypes (as seen in the one-word descriptors on the poster) and yet none of them come close to portraying that stereotype.

Jason Sudeikis plays the cleanest, most organized drug dealer you have ever seen. His character is deeply unbalanced, as he tries to maintain likability but also portray a scumbag. The "Jim from The Office" charm of looking into the camera to be cute doesn't work when his inconsistent role flutters between cool guy, asshole, and dad. I get that this role is meant to be a vehicle to launch Sudeikis, but his character seems to have facts instead of characteristics. There are things that we are told about his character, but that doesn't mean he has to continuously portray them as an actor. They are simply facts.

Equally as ambivalent is Jennifer Aniston, who plays a stripper. She never gets naked, just putting that out there. As a stripper, you would think that she too should be at a low point in her life, maybe she's also a drug addict, or can't feed her baby, I don't know you can choose your own stripper cliche. Fortunately she seems to act like stripping is in the same ballpark as being a secretary, or in sales at Best Buy. To be blunt, she's a prude even at her most sexually charged, and isn't that just a little pathetic?

As for the kids, one is a runaway or homeless or something unexplained, and the other is a kid living in the building who looks up to Sudeikis like a role model. Regardless of where they come from or what the situation is, these kids were essentially kidnapped and brought across an international boarder. Didn't that seem like a red flag to anyone?

My biggest criticism is that it's flat out lazy. This is a movie that wants to be raunchy and crazy, but comes across as being out of touch, and unoriginal. It's predictable in the worst kind of way, with every recycled trope of the genre being featured at some point. Since it's about drugs, they accidentally befriend a DEA agent. Since they drive an RV, it breaks down at some point. Cursing is often a punchline, and that's never enough to carry a film. Don't get me wrong, I like a raunchy comedy, but this is tame enough to bring my parents, and grandparents. It's dated material, and the jokes don't add any substance to the movie, they're just there to kill 90 minutes.

This is a superficial movie. It has a story that could have real potential, Breaking Bad has certainly shown audiences that drug culture doesn't have to remain a stereotype. Characters are so shallow that despite all of them coming from an impoverished situation, it's never once discussed. Worst of all, no one ever smokes the drugs. What a shame.

Don't waste your time on this unless you think a few dick jokes and a shot of some ballsack is worth your hard earned money.

IMDB - We're the Millers (7.2)
Wikipedia - We're the Millers
Rotten Tomatoes - We're the Millers (47%)
Amazon.ca - We're the Millers