Film review: 'We're the Millers' is an adult comedy with a crazy ensemble cast

Film: We’re the Millers
Cast: Ed Helms, Emma Roberts, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Rating: ***

 
What’s it about
They are the antithesis of the Brady Bunch. A local drug dealer (Sudeikis), who’s in a financial soup takes the help of some odd balls to put together a make believe family that includes a stripper (Aniston), a nerd (Poulter), and a homeless punk (Roberts) and cross the border into Mexico and smuggle a RV full of marijuana into the US. 

What makes the film different from adult comedies in the past is the crazy ensemble Thurber has put together. Each actor brings certain quirkiness to his character making the dialogues and slapstick more memorable. Expect lot of cussing, some blurred frontal nudity and a bittersweet outtake with Jennifer.

What’s hot
There is a certain tempo to the film that works in its favour. The moments when the humour takes a back seat for a while and the mush comes out feels very natural and goes with the flow of the story line.

Also what is great is the fact that none of the characters compromise and stop being who they actually are. So when you hear Jen boasting about her skills as a stripper, she backs it up with a full throttle strip scene that will erase the cute and bubbly Rachel Green from your memory.

Giving her back up is Sudeikis who seems totally at home playing this part. Same goes for Poulter and Roberts who aren’t just fillers but people who decide where the story goes. A shout out to whoever thought of referencing the 90’s TLC hit song Waterfalls and sampling it in the film. Brilliant idea!

What’s not
Some of the gags are predictable and yes the bit with the ‘herb baby’ is a wasted opportunity, but despite the sense of already having been through the routines the actors make up for the lack of originality. Some scenes feel like they are stand alone acts from Saturday Night Live, others work only in parts. Also the relationships between the Millers is very on the periphery and surface, the writers seem to lazy to dig in deep and give us more to chew on.

What to do
If offensive, crude, adult humour tickles your funny bone then this is the ticket to buy!

Watch the trailer: