A Million Ways to Die in the West follows a pathetic and cowardly sheep farmer named Albert (Seth MacFarlane) who falls for a mysterious new woman that just moved to town, Anna (Charlize Theron). Initially, he thinks he’s using her to help win back his longtime girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) back from the successful moustache man Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), but things eventually change. Unbeknownst to Albert, Anna is the wife of the deadliest gunslinger in the territory, Clinch (Liam Neeson), and eventually news gets out that Albert and Anna are becoming smitten, which puts the cowardly Albert in life-threatening position.
I don’t know about you, but when I first saw the trailer for Seth MacFarlane’s follow-up to Ted my initial thoughts were “well that was underwhelming.” Since the release of that first trailer my expectations remained the same, I was worried this was going to be a flop and boy was I right. A Million Ways to Die in the West is the result of someone trying way too hard to make people laugh. The film is full of ridiculous shenanigans for the sake of being ridiculous; the issue is that most of the shenanigans aren’t funny. There’s a ton of physical humor but many of these jokes you see coming from a mile away and the attempt at humorous dialogue become more like attempts at comedic rants that solid comedic punches.
The only real saving grace, from a comedic stand point, are the supporting characters, particularly Sarah Silverman and Giovanni Ribisi as Albert’s best friends. Silverman’s character is a whore who won’t have sex with Ribisi’s character until they’re married. He’s ok with her job because she makes money but their relationship, the way it plays out, and the characters themselves are hilarious. There are also some fun unexpected things that Neeson and Theron as well as a great moustache song do that’ll certainly make you smile.
Judging by how poor the results were, it seems as if Seth MacFarlane made this movie for three simple reasons. The first, to make out with Charlize Theron which, to be fair, is a pretty excellent reason. The second, SPOILER is to have a Doc Brown Back to the Future cameo/reference END SPOILER, and lastly, to have a chance to actually be in front of the camera rather than as a mere voice/mo-cap role like in Ted.
I think the main issue the film had is that we expect Seth to be ridiculous, to say stupid things, and while I’m all for low brown humor, part of the joy of watching his work is derived from watching characters who don’t normally say or do crazy things actually doing and saying those things. When he says or does something in physical form you can see it coming whereas with someone like Liam Neeson, you have no idea how far he is willing to go, giving us the unexpected laughs we crave. I’m afraid Seth just isn’t the guy fit for being a leading man in a film, he needs to stick to either voice acting, writing and directing.
Over time there’s really only been one western comedy that stands out to people and that’s Blazing Saddles. Seth MacFarlane attempts to break the dry spell with A Million Ways to Die in the West but fails to do so. Instead of getting witty banter with funny low brown humor, we get sad attempts at slapstick and endless ridiculous jokes that usually fail to make us laugh. Yes, you’ll chuckle throughout the movie due to the over-the-top and raunchy dialogue and actions, but there’s nothing that’ll hit you in the gut and bring you to tears from laughter the way Ted was able to.
Rating: A bad live-action version of a Family Guy western (4/10)
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