An Overlooked Jennifer Aniston Comedy Is Now #1 On Netflix
We're the Millers is the most streamed movie right now on Netflix.
Jennifer Aniston gets by with a little help from her Friends in the sleeper comedy We’re the Millers, currently streaming on Netflix. The 2013 film, which also stars Ted Lasso‘s Jason Sudeikis, is the most streamed movie on the platform, according to FlixPatrol.
We’re The Millers was directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber of Easy A and Skyscraper fame off of a screenplay by Bob Fisher, Steve Faber, Sean Anders, and John Morris. Usually, having that many credited writers is a red flag for a movie, but somehow The Millers manages to be the exception. In addition to Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, the movie also features Ed Helms, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Nick Offerman, and Kathryn Hahn.
The plot of We’re the Millers is simple: David Clark (Jason Sudeikis) needs a fake family to help him smuggle a ton of marijuana from Mexico to the USA in an RV. To that end, Clark recruits a stripper named Rose, played by Jennifer Aniston, to pose as his loving wife in exchange for a cut of his marijuana money. Clark completes his fake family by hiring runaway 19-year-old Casey (Emma Roberts) and goofy neighbor Kenny (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s Will Poulter) to play his and Rose’s children.
Along the way, the family runs into a DEA agent and his wife, played by Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn, respectively. The usual comedy close-calls and wacky hijinx ensue, culminating in an eye-popping striptease by Jennifer Aniston late in the movie that just might melt your flatscreen. You’ve been warned.
Development on We’re the Millers first started in 2002, 11 years before its eventual 2013 release. Actors Steve Buscemi, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman were all attached to play David Clark at various points throughout the film’s long production. The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo was originally signed on to direct the movie before being replaced by Thurber, who had proven his comedy chops years earlier with the 2004 Vince Vaughn hit Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
The principal cast of Jennifer Aniston, Sudeikis, Roberts, and Poulter, were all added just prior to filming in April 2012.
The movie began shooting a few months later, in July of the same year. That means that the core group of actors only had a short time to build a working relationship, something impossible to tell just by watching the movie. Quite the opposite, in fact. Watching We’re the Millers, one could easily assume that the four “Millers” had spent years working together prior to filming. Their onscreen chemistry is that good.
Interestingly, Jennifer Aniston isn’t the only cast member from We’re the Millers with connections to the television show Friends. Actress Emma Roberts had previously worked with Friends stars Lisa Kudrow in 2009’s Hotel for Dogs and Courtney Cox in 2011’s Scre4m before working with Aniston. On top of that, her aunt, acting legend Julia Roberts once starred in an episode of the ’90s sitcom.
However, despite Roberts having a connection to the show, it was definitely Jennifer Anniston the cast and crew were trolling when they played the Friends theme, “I’ll Be There For You” by the Rembrandts, instead of TLC’s “Waterfalls” during one scene. The clip of Aniston reacting to the prank even made it onto the movie’s blooper reel.
We’re The Millers debuted in theaters on August 7, 2013, and went on to gross over seven times its $37 million budget during its theatrical run. The movie left theaters with a worldwide total of $270 million under its belt. Not bad for a non-Marvel, non-DC, non-Star Wars, non-sequel, adult comedy.
Like many comedies, The Millers was ill-received by critics scoring a below-fresh rating of 48 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The low critic score stands in contrast with the audience’s reaction to the film. Theatergoers polled by CinemaScore gave the movie an average grade of “A-” on an A+ to F scale.
Today the movie is best remembered as the source of the “You guys are getting paid?” meme based on a line spoken by Will Poulter in the movie. The meme usually features the other Millers with different names written next to them, discussing how much money they are getting in different situations, always ending with a picture of Poulter and the words, “Wait, you guys are getting paid?”
We’re the Millers may not be a modern comedy classic, but there are some decent laughs, most resulting from the titular fake family and all of their squabbles. The movie is definitely worth a watch, even if it’s just for that one stripping scene with Jennifer Aniston. Just don’t blame us if your TV melts.
