There was a point in life where you really felt bad for Jennifer Aniston, as much as you can for a multimillionaire actress who never would have to work another day in her life if she didn’t want to. She was the woman scorned in the love triangle involving her, Brad Pitt (her onetime husband) and Angelina Jolie as well as a number of high profile romances that soured. She had the big romance on Friends but never in real life, it seemed, and she showed genuine promise as an actress as well.
After rave reviews in The Good Girl and an underrated turn as the femme fatale in Derailed she settled into being just another actress but somehow her lack of good films, or interesting roles, never really affected her career for significant stretches. You could still pity her and the glow from The Good Girl gave us a similar feeling as Almost Famous did for Kate Hudson; another bad romantic comedy from either actress was almost forgivable because for some reason there’s always been a feeling that the talent that fueled one breakthrough performance could come out one more time.
Eventually the world gave up on Hudson, chalking up her role as Penny Lane as the high water mark of her career that could never be achieved again. It was a fluke performance, nothing more, and remains the aberration in an otherwise unremarkable career. And after We’re the Millers it’s tempting to do the same with Aniston; her stint on Friends and the indie film that showcased a brilliant performance is so far in the past now that Aniston’s true talent has finally risen to the surface: a pretty face with not much talent behind it.
We’re the Millers is a simple film. Jason Sudeikis is a low level drug dealer in deep to his wholesaler (Ed Helms) and agrees to go on a mission for him. He’s to procure a “smidge” of Marijuana for him, over the border in Mexico, and transport it home for $100,000. To that end he recruits the local runaway (Emma Roberts), the geeky kid in his apartment building (Will Poulter) and a stripper (Aniston) to pose as a family with him as they smuggle that “smidge” of the wacky tobacco over the border. Shenanigans ensue, of course, as not all that is planned goes accordingly.
Poised as a comedy, and with a fairly stacked cast to boot, this isn’t a funny film. At all.
There is so much potential to this film that it’s almost painful at just how profoundly unfunny it is. Nearly every joke is transparent and easy to predict; this is a film that goes for the easy joke so often that there’s nothing all that complex. When the film’s crowning joke is Poulter being bit in the nuts by a tarantula, and it’s not all that funny in the first place, it makes for a bad time at the cinema.
Aniston is by far the film’s weakest link, given a role mainly to do the one thing she’s not been particularly great at: using her sex appeal. Aniston’s strengths as a comedic actor are always playing against her good looks and this film needs an actress who oozes sexuality. Aniston has always worked best as the “girl next door type” as opposed to the “sex kitten” type. It’s what made her that much stronger in Derailed; she’s not going to be a jaw dropper in Hollywood but she could be anywhere else. This is a film that needs someone who can work that sort of sleazy sex appeal a movie stripper should have; Aniston is just a bad casting choice and it’s compounded by not giving her much to work with outside of “obligatory romantic lead” to Sudeikis.
Sudeikis is really trying hard in this one, much like A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, but isn’t given all that much to work with either. He’s slowly developing into a comedic actor who just plays the same type of role, the smarmy wise-ass, instead of having different characters. His best material is in the film’s first trailer and there’s nothing else of note that he provides in the film.
We’re the Millers is an awful, awful comedy and shouldn’t be viewed by anybody. Recommendation to avoid at all costs.
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Writer: Bob Fisher & Steve Faber and Sean Anders & John Morris
Notable Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly C. Quinn, Ed Helms
