9 Films That Made Terrible Things Looks Awesome

6. We're The Millers €“ Drug Dealing

Were The Millers Now, I really liked We're The Millers. A strange propensity for showing swollen testicles aside, it was stuffed with compelling characters, a couple of decent set-pieces and above all, it had heart. Anchoring all this down was Jason Sudiekis's David, a drug dealer and all around nice guy. Now, I don't buy into these dichotomies that if you sell drugs, you're automatically evil €“ while it's obviously illegal, dismissing everyone regardless of circumstance is essentialist and narrow-minded. So it was nice to see a film portray someone doing illegal things as the exact opposite of a monster. But still, with actions come consequences, and David knows everything he's doing is wildly illegal even before he hops the border with enough marijuana to, as he put it, kill Willie Nelson. Much like Accepted before it, everything can't go according to plan €“ otherwise this wouldn't be a comedy. So we get plenty of hi-jinks and caper-y involving a stripping Jennifer Aniston, All Saints and a Mexican drug cartel. Hey, I've heard worse. But things take a trip into the ridiculous when David and his quasi-family get rumbled by DEA Agent Ron Swanson (yes, I know he's not Ron in this, but I just can't help myself). Being a smart fellow, David manages to transform his potential you're-going-to-jail-forever sentence into an opportunity to turn in the film's two drug kingpins, and bundles himself and his accomplices into witness protection. Yet in the film's epilogue, it implies that he's bored with the whole new-identity charade, so is now growing marijuana in the back garden. What this ending effectively says is not only will David experience no comeuppance for his many years of drug dealing or his wildly illegal drive over the border, but he's not even learnt any lessons about getting back on the straight and narrow. Granted, it's a comedy so you probably shouldn't take it so seriously, but still, this man makes drug dealing look like an awesome, consequence-free enterprise, and I'm unsure whether that's a good thing. Maybe I've been watching too much Breaking Bad.
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.