Review of A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) by Maksim B — 16 Oct 2014

A Million Ways to Die in The West may be mildly funny and completely exploiting the Seth MacFarlane hype, but it is far away from offering a million laughs. With no story-depth and definitely not as original as Ted, it manages to compensate with fresh cast and few but big laughs in the middle of the Wild West. Definitely a polarizing delivery, the fans of Seth MacFarlane or raunchy comedies would be pleased, while those in the neutral specter (and who have high expectation after seeing Ted) would be disappointed.

Albert (Seth MacFarlane) is a young sheep farmer who could be considered a total disgrace by the standards of the Wild West. Unable to hold a proper gun-fight, to stand a one-on-one punch-fight or at least to keep his girlfriend, he is a walking parody. His miserable and hopeless life changes when he meets Anna (Charlize Theron) and a sort of romance starts. Yet, Anna is not what she pretends to be and comes with further complications.

All of this happens amidst a dozen of Wild West absurd events, multiple reference to the modern pop-culture and absolutely inadequate behavior of Albert. Bloody and sometimes sexually nasty MacFarlane's movie suffers from a slow pacing. Actually, the story development could have been much tighter and compelling if it was concentrated in 90 minutes. On the other side, this has a positive effect on Charlize Theron on-screen time. It is the presence of Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson that actually makes this parody-western feel like a western. Theron is confident,yet vulnerable, while Neeson is an ice-cold bastard who perfectly suits his character. The movie would have been a total success if MacFarlane and Neil Patrick Harris's performances matched Theron and Neeson's ones.

As already mentioned, those are not fans of the MacFarlane or this type of humor would possible be disappointed. Especially if they have seen Ted and they approach this delivery with similar expectations. Nevertheless, A Million Way to Die in The West remains a very good summer entertainment that would provide you with the sufficient amount of laughs and good moments. It is just the fact that Ted was good, which rocketed the expectations for this movie so high. If you forget about Ted and MacFarlane's track record, you would completely enjoy this Wild West comedy.