A Million Ways to Die in the West

[Review] A Million Ways to Die in the West

Seth MacFarlane made a name for himself with his various TV outings, practically single-handedly overtaking Fox's Sunday night TV programming with Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show. While each show has its fans, the "MacFarlane" brand of humor has, at times, run long in the tooth. What was once edgy and a legitimate alternative to The Simpsons (paired with the show's decline in quality over recent years) became stale, uninteresting, and too sophomoric for its own good.

2012's Ted, MacFarlane's film debut, was a test to see whether or not the writer/director/actor's brand of humor could translate not only to a live-action setting, but also sustain a feature length film. Almost $550m and generally positive reviews later, the answer was yes. To follow up, MacFarlane's comedy/western A Million Ways to Die in the West is grounded as much to reality as a MacFarlane project can be. However, did luck strike twice for MacFarlane, or did A Million Ways to Die in the West suffer the sophomore slump?

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A Million Ways to Die in the West
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Rating: R
Release Date: May 30, 2014

Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) is a sheep farmer living in 19th Century Arizona where there are "a million ways to die." Out of the myriad ways in which people can die, one of the most common ways is during a duel. Rather than face another man in a duel, he withdraws, causing his girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), to leave him for another man, the mustachioed Foy (Neil Patrick Harris). Down on his luck, he befriends a new woman in town, Anna (Charlize Theron).

While their friendship begins as Albert uses her to make Louise jealous and to increase his masculinity, the two inevitably fall in love with one another. Unbeknownst to Albert, however, is that Anna is married to Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson), the most notorious gunslinger in the West. When Clinch discovers Anna has been galavanting around town with another man, Albert must do what he can to survive an encounter with him or else face a gruesome death.

As a fan of Seth MacFarlane, I say this as bluntly as possible: MacFarlane's work is very gimmicky and one-note: Ted featured a talking teddy bear, Family Guy lampoons the dimwitted husband/nuclear family thematic, American Dad! follows a Conservative paternal figure, etc. A Million Ways to Die in the West beats its audiences over the head with the characters' awareness to its setting. Sometimes, the jokes work; often, they don't. While some of the perilous dangers that the film's characters face are humorous, they're really nothing more than forgettable sight gags. However, that's not to say that there aren't real jokes in the film; far from it. Rather, you'll more than likely end up chuckling over the occasional joke rather than gasping for air. There's a lot of toilet humor (both literally and figuratively) in A Million Ways to Die in the West, so if you're into poop and pee jokes, you're in luck.

Whereas Ted felt like a natural progression from MacFarlane's Family Guy, A Million Ways to Die in the West feels like nothing more than a long episode set in the 19th Century West. The soundtrack will sound familiar to Family Guy fans, as the showtunes-esque score is very akin to the one MacFarlane uses on the show. There's even a long musical number that was one of the highlights of the film, thanks to the participation from Harris. In fact, if there could only be one highlight for the film, it's the stellar cast that MacFarlane put together.

While MacFarlane makes for a promising lead, his performance shows promise for future films, but doesn't quite hit the highs you expect. Thankfully, the ensemble cast more than does its part to keep the film afloat. The supporting cast of Sarah Silverman, Harris, Neeson, and Giovanni Ribisi are enough to bolster MacFarlane's subpar performance. Naturally, every scene in which Harris' Foye plays a primary role steals the spotlight away from any other character, whether it's from the aforementioned musical number, his character's subtle quirks and ticks, or his sense of physical comedy. To a slightly lesser degree, Silverman's naive Rose, a prostitute, allows MacFarlane a natural way to punch in edgy sex jokes; what would a MacFarlane project be without a handful of semen jokes, anyways?

A Million Ways to Die in the West showed promise with its early trailers. However, it really is nothing more than a long wild, wild West-set episode of Family Guy. It has its moments, and the supporting cast brings in as much as they can, but the film doesn't bring as many laughs as you'd like. Sure, you'll get the mustache song stuck in your head, you'll never be able to look at Neil Patrick Harris the same again, and you'll geek out with your friends over the pop culture easter eggs MacFarlane threw into the film, but they don't add up enough to cover an otherwise disappointing experience. Ultimately, A Million Ways to Die in the West isn't able to escape the one-note joke of its setting. However, there's enough present in the film to keep expectations positive for MacFarlane's next film, whenever that may come about.

by Geoff Henao