‘We’re The Millers’ Reviews: Critics Aren’t Fans

We’re the Millers stars Jason Sudeikis as a small-time pot dealer named David, who gets forced into a bigger drug game when his stash gets stolen from some punks on the street. In order to move more safely cross the Mexican border with the sizeable stash of dope, he enlists his next door neighbor and stripper Rose (Jennifer Anniston), a loner teen (Will Poulter) and a street-living runaway (Emma Roberts) to play his nuclear family.

The comedy is being criticized (by most, but not all critics) for alternately being too saccharine and too raunchy – failing to really find its comedic groove. Following Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy’s The Heat and animated films Despicable Me and Monster’s University, We’re the Millers paled in comparison in the eyes of movie reviewers. However, it’s not fairing nearly as badly as Adam Sandler’s star-studded Grown Ups.

“It plays like a Saturday Night Live skit that goes on too long. We’ve heard that phrase used so often to describe former SNL members’ disappointing movies that it’s become a cliché. But you know what? We’re the Millers plays like a Saturday Night Live skit that goes on too long. Can’t be helped…. This isn’t to say that there aren’t some laughs in the movie. There are, and a few are huge. But they’re just sort of strung together, one set up after another, with a story not strong enough to support them.… If you dumb down your expectations, you’ll be OK. The thing is, you shouldn’t have to.” –Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“We're the Millers is a twisted road trip worth avoiding. Not only is it not funny, it's offensive.… Aniston performs a couple of clumsily filmed scenes with stripper moves, leaving viewers to wonder if the movie exists solely for her to show that, at 44, she's still in fantastic shape. Given that laughs are so few and far between, there must be an ulterior motive to this dreadful excuse for a comedy.” – Claudia Puig, USA Today

“This film's eagerness to please functions as a slow poison, draining The Millers of its vitality by rendering its characterization uneven, its potential undeveloped, and its plot predictable and stupid. Sudeikis can't find a center amid the script's erratic tonal whims, while Aniston, so thrillingly sexy as a man-eating dentist in Bosses, disappointingly reverts back to America's Sweetheart: Stripper Edition.” – Inkoo Kang, The Village Voice

“We’re the Millers is good, clean fun for the whole family. Well, except for the drug smuggling. And the strippers. And the swinging. And the faux incest. And a huge swollen testicle.… The result is a laugh-out-loud comic trek that avoids being either too crude or too docile. If a summer of high-impact blockbusters has left you worn out, join the Millers for a laugh.” – Tom Long, Detroit News

We're the Millers, rated R, is currently in wide release.

– Chelsea Regan

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