““We’re The Millers” is an interesting film, though it’s harsh – almost to the point of being mean, and mean-spirited – at times.”

“Meet The Millers” is about family – which is not to say that it’s a family film, because it isn’t.  In fact, it initially appears almost anti-family (curiously, so does the movie poster).

The film revolves around a pot dealer, David Burke (Jason Sudekis) who due to circumstances beyond his control, gets involved with smuggling massive amounts of marijuana from Mexico to the United States.

That sounds kind of serious, doesn’t it?  Like Alan Parker’s “Midnight Express,” in fact (though that film dealt with smuggling significantly lesser amounts of hashish).

Adding to the confusion, the movie is played straight.  So, while there is quite a bit that’s funny, the laughter is laced with more than a little ambivalence.

Things really move into gear when Burke, realizing that his odds of getting through US Customs would increase astronomically if he were to have a family while doing so, enlists one.  There are a lot of laughs here, and a bit of gross out humor in the vein of “There’s Something About Mary” (also involving the male anatomy) that’s shown more times than most will be comfortable with.

His “wife” Rose (Jennifer Aniston) is gorgeous, which is good, considering that she’s a stripper, though you can tell that she doesn’t dance all that well because you never actually see her do it.  You do see a bunch of provocative poses though.

Kenny (Will Poulter) is a British actor, which I mention because his American English was not only flawless, but visually he fits the stereotype of how a white American teenager should look and act – lots of awkwardness, particularly around women – and who occupies his skin as if it were an ill-fitting suit.

Casey (Emma Roberts) is a homeless girl that they adopt as their daughter.  Her performance is a good one, but less interesting than the other characters, which is due mainly to the script.

Brad (Ed Helms) is the guy that forces David Burke to smuggle drugs, and is less a character than a device to set events in motion.  He’s also pretty inept, which makes you wonder how it is that he was able to amass as much money as he has.

That uneasiness I mentioned earlier not only comes from the plot about drug smuggling, but the way some pretty traumatic events are ignored.  For instance, Casey is a young woman, somewhere in her late teens to early twenties.  She’s living on the street, robbing newspaper vending machines for money.  I understand why she’s on the street isn’t the point of the film, but I was curious.

The same thing with Kenny.  When we meet him we learn that he’s been abandoned by his mother, and I don’t recall a father even being mentioned.  Why did his mother vanish?  Again, not the point of the film, but to have another broken person, and not care enough to explain how they got to where they are, was disconcerting.

This undercurrent runs through the entire movie and distracts from what could have been a remarkably funny one.