Film Review: WE'RE THE MILLERS

The Millers with their two fake kids and pretend baby. (It's really a huge brick of pot.)

Besides being so much easier to watch a movie at home, there's now the threat of that new Chinese virus making me think that a crowded public venue is not where I want to be. So I dug deep into the vault of Movies I Missed and came up with We're the Millers. Not exactly an intellectual choice, but anything with Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston sounds like a good time to me. And this was: No matter how sophisticated you may be, you will laugh out loud repeatedly, and isn't that what comedies are for?

Made in 2013, the script is surprisingly current on street slang and popular culture. Sudeikis plays Dave, a small-time pot dealer who gets wrangled into a big-time Mexican drug smuggling operation by his evil boss (Ed Helms). To avoid suspicion crossing the border, Dave poses as a typical American hayseed from cow country, driving a giant RV -- the better to fill with tons of marijuana -- and complete with a wife and two kids. Since he has neither he must find some lost souls willing to pose as his family and risk their lives on a dangerous road trip.

His neighbor, Rose (Jennifer Aniston), is a down-on-her heels stripper just evicted from her apartment and out of work; posing as Dave's wife is the best offer she has. A daughter shows up in the form of a homeless teenage girl hanging around Dave's building, and the son is played by Dave's dorky next door neighbor who's been all but abandoned by his real mother. And off they go!

We're the Millers is hysterical from beginning to end. Bad things happen, Mexican drug lords chase and almost kill them, border agents almost find the hidden contraband, and one of the foursome gets a bad bite in a delicate area from a hideous tarantula, forcing an unplanned stop at a hospital ER. By the end, safely ensconced in witness protection, they love one another and bond as a real family. While not all the way to heart-warming it's definitely a feel-good couple of hours, although several raunchy situations make it inappropriate for young children and prudes.