Monday, August 19, 2013

We're the Millers

Seen in the theater for the first time in August 2013.

"We're the Millers" is not a good movie. Most of the humor is exceptionally lazy, saved only by solid performances and miraculous line readings. It's not as funny as the third Hangover film, which though incredibly flawed, was nonetheless incredibly funny in parts. I should think that asking a film to be better than the second sequel to a reasonably funny movie is a reasonable hurdle for any movie to clear.

Jason Sudeikis's character has some parallels with Cary Grant's character in the great "His Girl Friday." And yet Cary Grant's character never changed or was redeemed in that movie. He basically stayed the same selfish, self-involved narcissist he was at the beginning of the film. But "His Girl Friday" never asked us to dislike Cary Grant despite all his schemes to get in the way of his ex-wife and her fiance's happiness. So we never needed a moment where Cary Grant apologizes. Instead, Cary Grant wins, because his ex-wife would never be happy living the conventional life with her conventional groom, and she comes to realize this.

I'm not sure that "We're the Millers" really succeeds in getting us to the point where Sudeikis needs to apologize for who he is, but it gives us that redemptive moment anyway. I'm not sure if politically or morally "We're the Millers" is better for bowing to a pandering, conventional sensibility, it might be. But this pandering obeisance to formula certainly makes for inferior art.

But failing to be as good as "His Girl Friday," is no unforgivable sin. This movie was conceived well enough and it was executed well enough. The terrible flaw is that it's extremely poorly written. There is one exception: The character of the daughter was not well conceived, nor was she well executed, by anyone. But ultimately, this film is forgettably mediocre. No that's too generous. I like forgettably mediocre comedies. This film is bad. Grade D.


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