We’re the Millers

We’re the Millers lays on the humour thick and fast. Dave (Jason Sudeikis) is dealing weed around Denver, meeting with regular customers and old college friends alike. There is a laughable and stark difference between Dave’s lackadaisical lifestyle compared with his contemporaries – he lacks the burden of children, a wife and bills.

It is only when Dave is mugged of his entire stash and all of his money that the audience realises being a small-time drug dealer is perhaps not the easygoing lifestyle it first appeared. It seems the only way to rectify this sticky situation and appease his boss is for Dave to smuggle drugs across the border from Mexico. Inspired by an encounter with a real-life, wholesome, RV-driving family, he decides to recreate the stereotypical all-American, butter-wouldn’t-melt Christian household and have them assist in his quest.

The comedy is amplified by Dave’s choice of lowlife characters to fashion the illusion of a typical 2.4-children family unit. First there is Rose (Jennifer Aniston), a neighbouring stripper. The inclusion of Aniston affords the film many chances to show us that the actress, now in her forties, still has “it,” with numerous scenes of her cavorting scantily clad around stripper poles. Emma Roberts as grungy teenager Casey is hilarious, persistently on her iPhone despite being homeless and contemptuous of her faux-family. 

Finally there’s the endearingly cute Kenny, played by Londoner Will Poulter, whose version of TLC’s Waterfalls in the film causes audience members to contort in fits of laughter. His role is that of the wide-eyed and innocent virgin, taught about the birds and bees by his newfound “family members”. This causes an eruption of giggles as the awkward jokes around incest ensue: Poulter pulls nervously in the region of his groin as Aniston prances past in her underwear and Sudeikis shouts: “Have some respect – that’s your mother!”

Although critics have not necessarily taken to the film, with its dry humour and semi-offensive jokes, audiences will find this a welcome surprise in the comedy genre. We’re the Millers might not find critical acclaim but hopefully that will not dissuade members of the public from flocking to the cinema, as it is arguably the funniest film of 2013 thus far.

Anne Higgins

We’re the Millers is released nationwide on 23rd August 2013.

Watch the trailer for We’re the Millers here: