Movie review: We're the Millers
Aug. 8th, 2013 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amanda_loddenI wanted to see this because it looked funny, but I expected it to be slightly dumb-- just a little bit of cheese, some silly, hopefully not too painful.
Result? Much, much better than expected. There's quite a few genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. There's a bit of cheese, but not as much as I expected. And despite having its share of pandering-to-the-lowbrow bits, those pieces are worked into the story coherently rather than just "here's something gross/sexy/stupid" so that it's not painful. Still, don't take your kids. This is a bad movie to take a child to. I'm somewhat of an expert on this.
The trailer (which you can view here) doesn't do it justice. The Fitzgeralds and their "I've never touched another woman before" scene in the trailer is.. well, it's not exactly taken out of context, but the full scene has a lot more to it, and I was surprised at how much communication and negotiation Mrs. Fitzgerald engaged in before touching Mrs. "Miller"-- something that's highlighted (highlit?) by the utter lack of communication between the males in the scene. Jennifer Aniston's striptease is just as hot as it looks in the trailer, but quite a bit more empowering. And yes (minor spoiler), it does save their lives, because the "cheap stripper" is far more resourceful than the trailer leads you to believe. Kenny's tarantula bite is awful and one of the things put in for cheap laughs (and also one of the reasons why you should not take kids), but it also sets off a major portion of the plot and ends up drawing you in to the heartwarming bits. Is "there's heartwarming bits" a spoiler? It shouldn't be, if you've seen roughly any movie ever. And best of all: the heartwarming bits aren't too cheesy and overdone. The ending is satisfying yet believable in that nobody walks away consequence-free or magically completely different in personality.
I recommend it.
Result? Much, much better than expected. There's quite a few genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. There's a bit of cheese, but not as much as I expected. And despite having its share of pandering-to-the-lowbrow bits, those pieces are worked into the story coherently rather than just "here's something gross/sexy/stupid" so that it's not painful. Still, don't take your kids. This is a bad movie to take a child to. I'm somewhat of an expert on this.
The trailer (which you can view here) doesn't do it justice. The Fitzgeralds and their "I've never touched another woman before" scene in the trailer is.. well, it's not exactly taken out of context, but the full scene has a lot more to it, and I was surprised at how much communication and negotiation Mrs. Fitzgerald engaged in before touching Mrs. "Miller"-- something that's highlighted (highlit?) by the utter lack of communication between the males in the scene. Jennifer Aniston's striptease is just as hot as it looks in the trailer, but quite a bit more empowering. And yes (minor spoiler), it does save their lives, because the "cheap stripper" is far more resourceful than the trailer leads you to believe. Kenny's tarantula bite is awful and one of the things put in for cheap laughs (and also one of the reasons why you should not take kids), but it also sets off a major portion of the plot and ends up drawing you in to the heartwarming bits. Is "there's heartwarming bits" a spoiler? It shouldn't be, if you've seen roughly any movie ever. And best of all: the heartwarming bits aren't too cheesy and overdone. The ending is satisfying yet believable in that nobody walks away consequence-free or magically completely different in personality.
I recommend it.
