A Million Ways to Die in the West

Seth MacFarlane does western and stops being funny again

Our story begins with sheep farmer Albert (Seth MacFarlane) showing that he is the biggest coward in the west by trying to get out of a gun fight with words. This causes him to lose his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried), and question his life in the small town he lives in. His friend Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) and Edward's whore (literal whore) girlfriend Ruth (Sarah Silverman) try to comfort him, but they only succeed in driving him further away. He seems to be dead set on leaving the town for better prospects in the city until he meets a similarly thinking girl that just came to town, Anna (Charlize Theron). She succeeds in not only becoming his friend, but stealing his heart as well (while fitting in time to teach him how to shoot). Little does he know that Anna has a big secret. She is married to the most notorious outlaw in the west, Clinch (Liam Neeson).

So the story here is complete and utter bull (pun intended). I know I never go to these comedies expecting the end-all-be-all of writing, but I was hoping for a little better from MacFarlane and crew. There are just a lot of tired and cliche pieces. "Let's put in a montage that only makes the character get slightly better, instead of becoming a god at this certain craft in only a short amount of time." "Let's make the two most obviously similar characters fall in love, then make that love fall apart, then put it back together." These are some of the most tired scenes in movies, and it is a bit insulting to see it come from MacFarlane in a completely non-satirical way. It's like they were writing "Baby's first comedy" instead of trying to actually make something worth while. I digress, let us talk about what we really came to this movie for, the comedy.

The comedy in this was so bad it was hard to look at sometimes, other times you got a few chuckles out. You know when you see a stand up comic you really like just bomb set after set, you feel angry that you paid for it; but mainly feel bad because you know they are better than this. The parts that work are things I don't think they actually expected to work the other parts felt forced and played out. You sit threw the same "Low life expectancy" joke too many times (I knew it is called "A million ways to DIE in the west" but it gets tired. Fast.). You get graphic jokes that feel out of place, and forced. There are some one liners that are pretty great, and some racially charged jokes that work but could have been better. If you are expecting something new and interesting from MacFarlane it is best to sit this one out, because the man's heart just didn't seem in it. "Look there is the obligatory Ryan Reynolds cameo. There is the obligatory reference to pop culture or weird history. There is the same joke we have seen from other BETTER MacFarlane romps." Like someone paid him a lot of money to do this and his response to critics is going to be "what was I gonna do? Turn the money down?" I feel like he just took everything that made "Ted" work and stretched it out to the point where he not only beat a dead horse but defiled it's corpse

What really struck me as odd was Seth surrounding himself with a cadre of superior actors when his obvious talent lies in voice work. Seeing him try to act next to the likes of Theron, Ribisi, or Neeson is a bit off putting and ultimately sad. Everyone did really well in spite of him, but they were all playing typecast characters they have all played before. NPH is Barney Stinson, Liam Neeson is the gruff bad ass he has been playing since "Taken," Ribisi is the awkward guy, and Seyfried plays random attractive/stuck-up girl. If he was trying to make a hidden joke about typecasting it was clever; but I just don't think this movie was that well thought out. On a more positive note: Silverman at least got to be a little less annoying in this, Theron got to stretch her comedy muscle, and in Macfarlane's defense I hear it is awfully hard to direct yourself.

Remember when I said that the pacing was off in "Maleficent?" The same is true here but it is the complete opposite. Where that movie could have stood to be lengthened, this movie definitely need to be shortened. I don't think MacFarlane would have dug his own grave with so many jokes if the movie didn't reach almost two hours in run time. He could have cut some of the jokes that were used three or more times, and just might have made it out of this with a better movie. There were times during the movie I kept rolling my hand over and over wishing they would get to the point of whatever the hell they were trying to do.

What is really going to strike me as odd is if a movie with Zac Effron as a supporting lead turns out to be the funniest comedy this year. Blended was cute and far better than I expected, but it was ultimately another run of the mill Sandler flick. This was funny in some places, but ultimately more disappointing than the hype/concept promised. I can only hope the next comedy this year can make up for some major short comings thus far, if not I think we may be looking at an awkward future where Sandler and MacFarlane battle it out for the second "funniest" comedy of the year. Here is hoping "22 Jump Street."

Final Verdict: Netflix it This is not the best work from MacFarlane, and I would have rather watched "Ted" over again. If you have time on a slow day in your life and you see this as a new release on Netflix it might be worth your time, just don't throw your money away on this. Actually, if you want to throw your money at a western based comedy, check out "Blazing Saddles."