Disappointing but watchable

Rating: Null/10 (19 December 2013)

In the history of "Saturday Night Live", very few have made for strong leading men. With the exceptions of a handful of names like Chris Farley or Eddie Murphy, most SNL cast members that try to become movie stars inevitably end up failing. Jason Sudekis has unsurprisingly found himself in a number of high profile studio features the past few years. Although he certainly stole the show in films like Horrible Bosses and Hall Pass, We're the Miller is arguably Sudekis first real starring role in a studio comedy. Wisely, the screenplay largely offers Sudekis the chance to play in the two modes he does best: smarmy and charming. Playing David Clark, a small-time drug dealer who hires a group of loners to pose as his family so he can smuggle marijuana into Mexico, Sudekis is perfectly suited for the role and the first act indicates that his character is going to make We're the Millers the comedy of the year. Unfortunately, just as the film should be picking up, the script and direction slow everything down. As a road movie, everything that can go wrong will go wrong. It's simply part of the formula. But the sheer obviousness and predictability of We're the Millers ultimately kills the comedy. Maybe it's because I've seen too many comedies of this ilk, but I saw almost every big gag coming a mile away. What could have made for great character-orientated comedy becomes situation-oriented at every turn and what should come across as funny simply comes across as inevitable. Some of the over-the-top situations seem to have the potential to be hilarious, but ultimately end up being groan-worthy or disappointing in execution. To its credit, while the sight gags are fairly lame, there are enough memorable lines in the picture to keep it from being a waste of time. Whether most of the lines were scripted or improvised are anybody's guess, though this is one of the rare cases where dialogue almost completely saves a film. Every time I laughed was the result of a funny line of dialogue as opposed to something that actually happened on screen. It helps that both Emma Roberts and Will Poulter, playing the fake children, can deliver raunchy dialogue naturally without the lines sounding forced. As the fake mother, Jennifer Aniston isn't giving nearly as many good lines as she probably should have been. The potential for her character in particular seems like something that was never fully realized during the production stage. On the other hand, the role is certainly different than the others roles Aniston has played recently so at least she's able to do something else here. The rest of the cast, from Ed Helms to Luis Guzman, is generally wasted in roles that could have been cut down without any effect on the overall story. At almost two hours, the running time is about ten minutes longer than necessary for a silly comedy. At the very least, the ending is interesting enough and not a complete and total cop-out. Given the extreme success of We're the Millers at the box office, there is no doubt in my mind that a sequel will be on the way shortly. Given a bit more originality and less obvious plotting, there is the potential for a better sequel. It's possible I may grow to like We're the Millers more with another viewing. However, for now the flick stands as a disappointment given what could have been. 5/10