It's a pretty simple story - a guy hires a couple of stray 18 year olds to pretend to be his children and a stripper to be his wife. The fake family then goes to Mexico to smuggle drugs back into the US. Really, it's the all-American story.
Jason Sudeikis is here from SNL. That's the only thing I remember him ever being in, but he does a pretty good job with this role. I mean, there isn't much to the role, but it works out pretty well. I imagined during the course of the movie that other people were in the role, and I could see several actors doing an okay job, but the role is pretty bland, and I can't imagine anyone having this as their breakout role.
Ed Helms has become a regular supporting cast member in these comedies. He doesn't have a huge role here, but he does a good job as the drug lord of Denver. He has Ben Folds and killer whales to emphasize his over the top prima donna persona. Again, it's not a huge role.
For a huge role, we turn to Jennifer Aniston, who plays the stripper pretending to me a suburban wife. It is nearly impossible to believe that Jennifer is over 40. Jennifer's body does a good impression of still being in its prime - this is demonstrated at length more than once in the film. Jennifer's acting is also on display, but you get the feeling that this is the exact same way she would play the role if it was her character from friends that was put in the same position. It's not a bad character that she plays, but it's just THE SAME character in every movie.
The two kids have some story going on, but it's hard to give much of a crap about them. Instead, Nick Offerman and his wife and daughter provide more of a distraction than the rest of the fake family. Nick plays a vacationing DEA officer and the leader of a very uptight conservative family. Needless to say, this brings some very awkward situations and they wind up running into each other more than anyone in real life.
All told, it's an entertaining move with lots of little chuckles, but no real big laughs.
3/5