Saturday, 24 August 2013

We're The Millers (2013, Dir. Rawson Marshall Thurber, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ***


 

 

Starring: Jason Sudekis, Jennifer Aniston, Will Poulter

 

Small-time drug dealer, David (Sudekis) loses his stash of drugs, leading to his boss (Ed Helms) giving David an assignment to pick up a "smidge" (actually a rather large amount) of marijuana from Mexico. Realising that families are far less likely to get searched on the Mexican-US border than lone individuals, he goes south of the border with Rose (Aniston) a stripper, David's nice but extremely naive and awkward neighbour Kenny (Poulter) and tough street kid, Casey (Emma Roberts) all posing as a family, the Millers.

 

We're The Millers knows the marks that it should hit and does with little surprise or defiance from what's expected of a mainstream adult comedy of its kind. That isn't to slate the entire film. Actually, the film hits the right notes a few times comedically and with a couple of very laughable moments. But there was an obvious reason to cast Jennifer Aniston as a stripper and it wasn't based on a character arc. Along the way, the story trundles through various stock gags with few surprises. Most of the performances are decent and the characters are likeable (although Ed Helms's role as a super-rich drug baron seems so over-the-top when he turns up that it clashes with the tone of the rest of the film). As road movies go, it's also enjoyable but lacks variety and ultimately, it's a film that just comes and goes causing little upset or extreme enjoyment. All in all, pretty average.

 

Next time, Mark Wahlberg  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Anthony Mackie play three musclebound criminals who find themselves in over their heads in Michael Bay's latest film, Pain & Gain.

 

 

 

 

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