Jennifer Aniston gives every indication, on and off screen, of being a hard-working and good-natured person; alas, her utter niceness has led to a dire series of post-“Friends” movie vehicles, films in which her capricious comic timing is squandered on very watered-down material.
Every now and then one of these movies tries to add some “edge,” which must be welcome to an actress stuck in the “America’s Sweetheart” loop. With the notable exception of “The Good Girl,” these attempts only remind us of how nice Aniston is, and how far short she falls of such knotted-up characters.
Case in point: “We’re the Millers,” a predictably raunchy comedy with a far-fetched but not impossible premise.
Drug dealer David (“Saturday Night Live” veteran Jason Sudeikis) must make good a debt to his slick supplier (Ed Helms) by bringing a huge load of marijuana across the border from Mexico.
David’s idea: Hire people to pretend to be his nauseatingly clean-cut family, the better to escape detection while driving through customs in a motor home.
Aniston plays a stripper. So this is one of those “edge” parts, I guess. Her character, Rose, is strapped for cash and agrees to play David’s wife during the drug run — so not only is Aniston playing a cynical, wised-up stripper, she’s also playing the goody-two-shoes masquerade on top of that, which is supposed to be funny because we see the cynical stripper beneath the chirpy surface.
Except we don’t, because what we see is Jennifer Aniston.
I was rooting for Aniston during the film, in the way you hope that anybody caught in a trap will find the key.
Game as she is, the worst moments are the strip scenes, when Rose goes down to her undies (there’s no nudity from Jennifer Aniston, not like certain other actresses we could mention whose names rhyme with Angelina Jolie).
The performance is awkward and unconvincing, as though Aniston knows she’s not getting away with it.
She gets top billing, but the story is told from David’s perspective (it might have been crazier movie from Rose’s point of view).
The faux marrieds take in two teenage kids to play their children; they are played by Emma Roberts and Will Poulter, the latter a red-headed English kid who stood out in the last “Chronicles of Narnia” movie and who will undoubtedly get a lot of work from his funny turn here.
For all the shock jokes and shady subject matter, “We’re the Millers” is just another soft-centered comedy, relying on improvised doodads for its biggest yoks. Nothing kills a laugh like feeling bad for a performer — and you will feel bad for Aniston here.
“We’re the Millers” (1½ stars)
A drug dealer (Jason Sudeikis) hires three strangers to play his clean-cut family in a ruse to smuggle dope across the Mexican border. The premise needs dead-on execution, which it doesn’t get: The raunchy jokes fall flat and Jennifer Aniston is unconvincing as a cynical stripper hired to be the perfect mom.
Rated: R for language, violence, nudity.
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Everett, Galaxy Monroe, Marsyville, Stanwood, Meridian, Sundance, Thorton Place, Woodinville, Casdcade Mall.
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