In a summer chock-full of underwhelming tentpole features, superhero misfires, and a general box office malaise threatening to change how movies are made, it’s refreshing to find a bit of relief in the least likely of places: a film that stars Jennifer Aniston -- the sweet and wholesome Jennifer Aniston -- as a stripper. That’s right, Jennifer Aniston stars in the funniest movie of the summer.

But let’s back up a bit. Aniston isn’t the main reason We’re the Millers is so raucously funny. Nor does her notorious striptease alone make it worthy of such high praise. In addition, the plot is rather simple and routinely formulaic, playing out like any typical road trip movie... albeit with considerably more raunchiness. We’re the Millers earns its success from the collective winning performance of all involved who work from the brilliantly hilarious script by Bob Fisher and Steve Faber. You may know Fisher and Faber as the brain trust behind 2005’s  Wedding Crashers .A lot of things have to come together perfectly to keep this runaway train on course, and credit director Rawson Marshall Thurber for keeping it on the tracks.

SNL alum Jason Sudeikis plays David, a low-rung pot dealer who, while committing an act of seemingly random kindness, has his stash and personal savings stolen by a gang of thugs. Holding him accountable for the entire 40 large is David’s self-centered distributor played by Ed Helms, who offers David a deal to keep both his job and his head. With no other options at his disposal, David takes his boss up on the offer and agrees to drive south of the border to pick up a “smidge” of weed, and return it to the U.S. for a clean slate plus a $100,000 commission.

Realizing the odds of successfully crossing the border with illegal drugs are not in the favor of a long-haired pot dealer with a sketchy past, David comes up with a plan to smuggle the weed across the border by pretending to be The Millers, a fake, ready-made, All-American “family” traveling to Mexico in an RV.

There’s a big problem with David’s plan, however. Actually two big problems. First, David doesn’t have a family, so he employs the services of Rose (Aniston) the stripper who lives in his apartment building to be his wife, and as his two kids, he recruits Kenny (Lee Poulter) the dorky kid next door, and Gothy teen runaway Casey (Emma Roberts). Together they come up against David’s second big problem: the “smidge” of weed they load up actually turns out to be two metric tons of the stuff... and it belongs to an angry drug lord who’s not a bit happy to find it missing. Let the hijinx begin!

Most of the humor in We’re the Millers involves a high degree of difficulty. It’s extremely raunchy and can come off as offensive and distasteful if not handled correctly, but the cast delivers perfectly making all parts work, even the vulgar sight gags. Aniston seems to be having fun with her naughty girl role, and Sudeikis appears right at home wallowing in the filth. Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn provide a few laughs as a pair of fellow RVers (although we could use a bit less of them), but the standout is Poulter, who steals nearly every scene he’s in as the virginal bumpkin with the heart of gold. His rendition of TLC’s “Waterfalls” is worth the price of admission alone, even though we’ve watched the scene many times in the trailers.

We’re the Millers will never go down as a great comedy, nor will it likely be remembered once the calendar rolls over into the new year. There are  too many flaws for it to have much staying power, namely that it often feels like a drawn-out series of independent -- but funny -- sketches. Still, you will laugh at the jokes, cringe at the awkwardness, and by the time the end credits roll around, you’ll even be touched by the story’s tenderness as the fake Millers remind us what it’s like to be a real family.

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated “R” for crude sexual content, pervasive language, drug material and brief graphic nudity.)

Review also posted at www.franksreelreviews.com.