A Million Ways To Die In The West

After finding tremendous success with animated sitcoms Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane ventured into the realm of live-action comedy with 2012's smash hit Ted, which featured Mark Wahlberg as a slacker whose best friend is a sex-and-drugs-obsessed teddy bear. While MacFarlane provided the voice and motion capture for the titular stuffed animal, he never actually appeared in the film, but takes center stage in his sophomore effort, A Million Ways to Die in the West.

Set in Arizona in 1882, the film stars MacFarlane as Albert Stark, a mild-mannered sheep farmer living a mundane existence in the rough and tumble town of Old Stump. Stark has just lost his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) to a wealthy local businessman (Neil Patrick Harris), and spends his days drinking away his sorrows with his best (and seemingly only) friend Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) and his prostitute fiancée, Ruth (Sarah Silverman).

Meanwhile, notorious outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson) has dispatched his wife to Old Stump to await his arrival while he and the rest of the gang pull off another stagecoach robbery. After a chance encounter during a bar fight, Anna (Charlize Theron) takes an immediate liking to Stark, and agrees to help him win back the heart of his lost love, but omitting her true identity could have grave consequences when Clinch discovers who she's spending her days with.

While the plot sounds like it could have come from any number of Western films, everything that occurs on screen is through the filter of MacFarlane's unique sense of humor. Simultaneously poking fun at genre tropes while also paying homage to the classics, A Million Ways to Die in the West offers plenty to laugh at, including a hilarious song and dance number about men's facial hair, and an absurd variety of comedic death sequences.

Unfortunately, these moments are overshadowed by the fact that most of the film's humor is derived from the sort of R-rated content that MacFarlane can't get away with on television. There are only so many jokes about semen, diarrhea, and homosexuality that an audience can absorb before these topics stops being funny, but the film continues well past that mark, with Silverman coming across as particularly grating. After years of the exact same schtick, haven't people grown tired of hearing her talk about her vagina?

MacFarlane has proved time and again that he can write intelligent, thought-provoking comedy, but much like his previous film, he seems far too willing to cast that aside in favor of dick jokes and lame attempts to be offensive and shocking, just for the sake of being offensive and shocking. A Million Ways to Die in the West isn't a bad film - indeed, I think it's a vast improvement over Ted - but it's still not the MacFarlane film that I had hoped for. He's better than this, and hopefully we'll see that in his next flick.

-- Brent Hankins, www.nerdrep.com

This movie has gotten sh*t from a lot of reviewers. Still I have no clue why. It wasn't that bad. Sure, there's the recycling gag thingy people complain about, there's potty humor and swears. But this is the thing; it's not intended to be a classy, heartfelt comedy. It's just a very funny and immature slapstick comedy. It's clear that Seth McFarlanes humor isn't classy, clever or original. However, he does manage to create a somewhat funny movie that can be enjoyed. Now, I like stupid, silly movies. I don't like cleverly written comedies. So, If you are a fan of Family Guy or Ted's humor, you will probably like this movie.

A lot of reviewers tend to review this movie as like it is trying to be an Oscar movie. It isn't. All the actors did a great job (even the small rolls), the jokes weren't all over the place & it was actually quite enjoyable. They're having fun, we're having fun. Nothing wrong with that.

I don't understand why people go into movies like these expecting them to be some kind of comical masterpiece when the trailer was clear enough about it just being another random & dumb slapstick comedy. People are stupid enough to go watch it knowing what type of movie this is and expecting it to be something it's not.

So bottom line: If you like stupid & silly comedies with racist jokes & stereotypes, go watch this one. If you are a typical fan of the humor in Family Guy, South Park etc you will enjoy. There's plenty of different kinds of jokes in here. None of them classy, but funny. Toilet humor, foul mouths, racist stereotypes, offensive parodies & a few references that will be totally unexpected. If you're a fan of cleverly written scripts & wants to watch a classy comedy film; well, this movie is a total waste of time for you. I watched this expecting it to be really dumb, but enjoyable and it surpassed my expectations. The plot is simple, the jokes aren't clever but funny, the actors are doing a more than well job. I couldn't ask for more. This one deserves at least a 7 star rating. I found this movie much funnier than TED, which also was pretty dumb.

I rarely listen to what reviewers say about a movie before watching it first. You should do the same and judge for yourself. I just don't think it deserves the hate.

I'm a little surprised that so many reviews of A Million Ways follow the theme of: "pretty disappointed... funny but not hilarious... not as good as I was hoping..." etc.

This movie was literally exactly what I was expecting when I sat down in the theatre and the lights began to dim. That is to say, I've seen so much of Seth MacFarlane's work to know his sense of humour comfortably well.

OK, the movie is trite and the screenplay won't win awards, but it's bright, the scenery is amazing, the timing is reasonably fast-paced, and the quick-witted chemistry between Seth and Charlize plays out fairly well for the bulk of the film.

Also, there are plenty of jokes to enjoy and plenty of cameos to look out for. Some jokes are weird, vague, or just plain dirty. But really, after twelve seasons of Family Guy, what were you expecting, Shakespeare?

If you're looking for a dramatic, earth-shattering movie that will question existence and alter the way you view humanity, don't see this movie. But, I guess, if you bought tickets to a Seth MacFarlane movie without knowing what you're getting yourself into, it's kind of your own fault now, isn't it?

If, however, you're a fan of the offbeat and immature sense of humour that embodies Family Guy, this movie will most likely be a fun and easy-going way to pass two hours of your time.

It's 1882 in Arizona, the heartland of the American West. We follow the life of Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane), an incompetent and inept sheep farmer whose girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) breaks up with him because of his glaring lack of courage and skill. Depressed and discouraged by how his life is full of disappointment and how every instance of love is then destroyed and robbed from him, Albert finds comfort in Anna (Charlize Theron), a newcomer to his small village. Albert is attracted to her, initially, by her beauty, but realizes she's the courage and confidence he has always hungered for. However, when the infamous West outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson) arrives in town, Albert realizes that he has just intruded on Clinch and Anna's husband-and-wife relationship, and Clinch is hungry for retribution. On the other hand, Albert also has to find the gunslinging skill in order to battle Louise's new boyfriend - the cocky and wealthy Foy (Neil Patrick Harris) - in a shootout in front of the entire town.

A Million Ways to Die in the West may not have been the best followup to Seth MacFarlane's monster comedy hit Ted just two years ago. Despite critical/audience reception on the film taking a turn for the worse in recent time, I found that film absolutely hilarious in its brazenness and its levels of romance and heart to be on-point for a raunchy comedy of the modern day. A Million Ways to Die in the West feels like it came about when MacFarlane was sitting around a table with a few of his buddies for dinner and the gang of friends got to talking about how life in the American West must have been hell for the simple townspeople who weren't notorious gunslingers or dangerous outlaws. What they then proceeded to concoct was a barrage of events and downsides to living in one of America's most free and lawless times and what was formed was a satire on the American West life.

To be fair, the film has certain merit to it. When the film isn't getting caught up in excessive use of shock humor and gross-out gags and relying on criticizing conventions of the West, it becomes a very funny and often hilarious endeavor. When it, however, resorts to using diarrhea and urinating sheep as it core jokes is when the film becomes a tad insufferable. This is particularly frustrating because we know MacFarlane is capable of so much more than what is presented here.

However, MacFarlane excels when the screenplay calls for delivery of lengthy monologues explaining why the West is such a hellhole. Consider the scene that takes place in a local saloon, where Albert is talking with his close friends about how doctors use unorthodox practices, "modern" medicine kills and harms more than it heals, there is a new "disease of the week" every week, and everything that isn't you in the West wants you dead. This kind of humor is much more low-key and plays different instruments than the abundance of shock humor MacFarlane employs later on in the film. Was he fearful that the humor would be far too low-key and subtle for many to pick up on? Then there's the fact that the film is an unforgivably overlong one-hundred and fifty-six minutes when I initially struggled to see how this film could sustain ninety minutes. Being that it's MacFarlane, scenes drag out, subplots are introduced, musical numbers are introduced, and several little cameos such as the hilarious Bill Maher and Jamie Foxx turn up almost constantly. I am a fan of MacFarlane's rapid-fire style of filmmaking, and I admire this effort for the fact that it has to dodge contemporary pop culture references being that the story takes place in 1882. MacFarlane seemingly used those pop culture references as a cop out for story lines and plot points in his television show Family Guy, especially in the most recent episodes.

It's incredible the cast of characters MacFarlane managed to get to partake in this affair. Theron and Neeson partake in some rare comedic performances to a solid effect, and Sarah Silverman as the town hooker works because of her comedic openness. It's hard to believe the weakest performer at hand is MacFarlane himself, who finds ways to overact in many places and can't convey emotions due to his single-facial expression.

With A Million Ways to Die in the West MacFarlane creates a mildly-amusing writing exercising that turns into a sometimes funny but often middling farce on western life. The musical numbers are entertaining enough, the performances and the cameos are something to anticipate, and the aftertaste it leaves is not bitter nor offensive; just somewhat underwhelming.

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Neil Patrick Harris, and Amanda Seyfried. Directed by: Seth MacFarlane.

Since I watched Ted about a year or so ago, I became aware of this Seth McFarlane more and more especially when he hosted the Oscars last year. I found him often clever and funny even with his take on many vulgarities which he continues with this movie. Since he co-wrote, directed, and is the leading player here, he should get credit for not only continuing to provide funny scenes and lines for his players but also some for himself especially when he rants on certain facts or just makes stuff up. There was also a cameo from another movie from the '80s that I was very pleasantly surprised by! So on that note, I recommend A Million Ways to Die in the West.