A Million Ways to Die in the West (**)
Directed
by: Seth MacFarlane
Starring:
Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Giovanni
Ribisi, Neil Patrick Harris, Sarah Silverman
Seen:
June 25th 2014
**
Out of ****
A
Million Ways to Die in the West is one of the most irreverent comedies you will
see not only this year, but probably this decade. Coming from the guy who created
Family Guy, American Dad and 2012’s Ted, the movie being this left-of-centre was
to be expected. While it is really funny at times, and while the comedy is
definitely not family oriented, it works in some strange way. I’m not a fan of
toilet humour at all, but this movie actually presented moments of such humour
in such a way that I couldn’t help myself (laughing, that is…).
In
the American West in 1882, the relatively pathetic sheepherder Albert Stark (MacFarlane)
leads a simple life still living with his parents on their sheep farm just
outside of their local Arizona town, Old Stump. Albert is a coward, and when he
manages to talk himself out of a gunfight, his girlfriend Louise (Seyfried)
leaves him. Just outside of town the famous outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Neeson)
and his group of henchmen murder an old prospector for a lump of gold before Clinch
has Lewis, one of his men, escort his wife Anna (Theron) to Old Stump to hide while
he goes on the road. Lewis starts a bar fight in which Albert saves Anna from
danger, and they become friends. They go to the fair, where Albert is
confronted with Louise and her new Boyfriend, the ridiculous Foy (Harris), and
Anna pretends to be his girlfriend to help him save face. Foy challenges Albert
to a contest and wins, and when Foy starts insulting Albert in front of
everyone, Albert stupidly challenges him to a duel. Anna trains Albert to
shoot, and the two start growing closer, with Clinch’s return drawing ever
closer.
A
Million Ways to Die in the West doesn’t feature a million ways to die in the
west, but perhaps about 10 quite violent but unexpected and almost shockingly
funny deaths as fillers for a very thin plot. The jokes range from mildly
amusing to hilarious with the average hitting much closer to the mildly amusing
peg. The movie features crazy situations such as a very Christian couple,
Edward (Ribisi) and Ruth (Silverman) saving themselves for marriage – with the
caveat being that Ruth is a very popular prostitute in the local brothel, and
Edward is blissfully accepting of this arrangement. This is not the only sexual
innuendo to ‘grace’ the screen and without any nudity the movie still makes
things very sexually uncomfortable at times.
Seth
MacFarlane as the lead of the movie is a hard sell, and only the cowardly
nature of his character makes him somewhat believable – he stands out as the
only baby-faced guy in this entire movie. Charlize Theron on the other hand is
great as Anna, while Liam Neeson as the main villain seems to have had a ton of
fun filming this movie. Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman are oddly strange
and ridiculously mismatched. The movie features the two shortest cameos I’ve
yet seen with Ewan McGregor and Ryan Reynolds on screen for no more than 2
seconds each. The movie itself is relatively well-produced and the West is
effectively recreated even though events transpiring in it do not fit. A
Million Ways to Die in the West is funny, but too crude to recommend to anyone,
and the end product is a movie that isn’t really worth the price of admission –
and one that you won’t remember all that well come Monday.
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