Why So Blu?

Spend Some Family Time With ‘We’re The Millers’ (Movie Review)

Come on!  Let’s be serious here!  I’m only seeing this movie for two main reasons.  First, I had to check out Jennifer Aniston’s banging stripper body (who doesn’t) and second, when that boy starts singing “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls” in the RV at the end of the film’s theatrical trailer, he had me at hello.  So with that being said and admitted, I flung myself whole-heartedly into the press screening of We’re The Millers this past Monday evening.  With an all-star cast consisting of Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Ed Helms, Kathryn Hahn, Nick Offerman and more, who could possibly resist a screening of this anyway?  Please people, that was a rhetorical question.  Now that we have that out of the way let’s momentarily cut the stress cords of life (wish I could do that permanently) and take a few minutes to chat about the lighthearted comedy We’re The Millers…in case anyone asks.

So it seems that We’re The Millers has been in development for quite some time dating as far back as 2006.  I guess that’s why my screenwriting instructor in college warned us not to put any current events or modern day jokes into our screenplays as I have found out in my amateur career, scripts can and do get stuck in development hell for quite some time.  Also, interesting to note, both Steve Buscemi and Will Arnett were once upon a time attached this too.  However, in 2012 with names such as Aniston and Sudeikis, things finally came back to life under director Rawson Marshall Thurber, most notably known for DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.  And here we are…August 2013!

And I gotta be the first to say…what a fun time I had with We’re The Millers!   It’s road trip comedy cliche stripped down in its simplest form, but what a blast it is to see it all unfold…on the road.  And while we are at it…what a refreshing experience to see it Rated-R instead of the dumb downed PG-13 version this could have easily been transformed into for wider audiences.  I’m just happy with it.

So let’s see…we have four down on their luck mundane everyday people.  We have drug dealer David (Sudeikis) who’s in with the wrong crowd and has to unwillingly accept a job from a wealthy drug lord, Brad Gurdlinger (Helms), to bring back A LOT of marijuana back from Mexico and IF he succeeds…he’s guaranteed a $100,000 paycheck.   But there’s that pesky problem!   How do you go unnoticed coming back across the border with an RV full of marijuana?   Ahoy.  A solution is found!  Why not pose as an all-American yuppie family?   Yes!   That’s sure to work!   So David goes on to recruit two local kids, a runaway teenage girl (Roberts) and a virgin 18-year old boy (Poulter) and oh why not…a stripper mom (Aniston)…hence forth they are known as the Millers…”in case anyone asks.”

Sounds like a great plan above, huh?   Of course it is!   But it’s not long until things start to quickly unravel.  Just because they are posing as a family doesn’t mean they don’t fight like a real family too.   In addition to calling this a road trip comedy one can almost calling this a coming-of-age story too as both Mr. and Mrs. Miller are inexperienced in the raising kids department and don’t really even know what they are missing out on until this faithful journey shows them for lack of a better term.  So let the bickering pursue as what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger or in our case of family matters…only brings you closer together (hint, hint).  However, family drama aside…things go quite awry for the Millers when they discover they’re in over their heads with the wrong Mexicans and a serious case of double-crossing.  Now that’s not to say things get too serious here, quite the contrary…for argument’s sake let’s just say the hilarious stakes get raised even more.  Yeah.  I like the sound of that.  We’ll roll with that.

But what’s a couple to do when the spark is dull in the bedroom?  I know!  Swing!  Enter the Fitzgeralds.  Don (Offerman) and Edie Fitzgerald (Hahn) really know how to heat things up and what’s that…bring more laughs in?  Of course they do!  That’s safe to say.  I swear, ever since seeing the comedic genius that is Offerman in The Kings of Summer, I think I want this guy in every comedy now.  He’s my new Ken Jeong.  How about that?  Hear that Michael Bay?  You want this guy in Transformers!  I won’t ruin any surprises here.  You’ll want the Fitzgerald family in every possible scene.  Trust me on that one.

And don’t get me wrong, like every GOOD Rated-R comedy, there’s some raunchiness and excessive swearing, but without it…ah…why even bother?  I want the real deal.  Leave the kiddies at home.  This ain’t no daycare.  And who says rude, crude and heartwarming can’t harmoniously exist together?  Why sugarcoat it?  This isn’t The Internship, this is the real deal.  We’re The Millers is a joyride I plan on going on again and again in the future.  It’s not the second coming of The Hangover, but it’s one of the best all-star comedies of the summer.  I liked it better than This Is The End, but that’s just me.  If you got those summertime blues, there’s no place your a$$ better be than in the theater this week.  You get what I be saying?

We’re The Millers opens nationwide today, August 7th.  Cool off and enjoy this one!  Jennifer Aniston still has it.  I don’t know for how long, but she still has it.  The real stars though are Sudeikis, Poulter and Offerman.