If, in a movie, you put a family of four on a road trip, have things go horribly awry, toss in a bunch of ancillary oddball characters, and maybe throw in some carnival/amusement park rides, one’s thoughts may very well turn to 1983’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” The New Jennifer Aniston-Jason Sudeikis comedy, “We’re the Millers,” has all those same elements, but in our interview with them, Sudeikis and Aniston say that “Vacation” never crossed their minds.
The two stars of the new movie tell us that there were “other movies from that era” that they spoke about for tone (“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Trading Places”), but that “Vacation” didn’t come up once. Certainly, as Sudeikis points out, his character’s arc here is different here than Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold, but as the story in “Millers” is vastly different (it’s just a bunch of the individual pieces that harken back to “Vacation”) that isn’t a terrible surprise.
As the trailers for “Millers” indicate, there is a whole lot of potential for raunch in the movie, but even knowing that it was going to get an R rating, Sudeikis and Aniston still self-regulated their language because “Too many F-bombs is not appealing.” It was, Aniston said, of question keeping it “As grounded as possible and as raunchy as possible without going out of the tasteful zone.” Be sure to check out Drew McWeeny’s review to see if they succeeded with that goal.
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, “We’re the Millers” features Sudeikis, Aniston, Ed Helms, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Kathryn Hahn, and Nick Offerman.
“We’re the Millers” is currently showing in theaters across the country.