Movies: A Million Ways to Die in the West

Score:  *** out of ***** (C)

Long Story Short:  Funny man Seth MacFarlane returns to the big screen with a Wild West satire, his follow up to 2012's hit, Ted.  Unfortunately, A Million Ways is a flop.  Despite occasional belly laughs and a wildly entertaining part for Neil Patrick Harris, MacFarlane makes a mistake by putting himself as the lead.  Add a terribly boring and cliched story that needed far more/better jokes to save it and we have a model for what MacFarlane should not do next.


I'm on a roll!  Yet another movie review this week, and it's back to comedy.  After this, it will likely be a little while until the next review, based on the upcoming release calendar.  However, the NBA Finals will be finished by next weekend, so expect a recap of the NBA Playoffs/Finals, plus French Open.  People tend to love or hate Seth MacFarlane... I happen to enjoy him and think he's talented - he's not the funniest guy on the planet, but I also think the "offensiveness" of his humor is way overblown.  I also enjoyed his first movie, Ted, quite a bit in spite of it starring the despised Mark Wahlberg, so I wanted to check out his second offering.  A Million Ways to Die in the West was directed by MacFarlane, and stars him along with Charlize Theron, Neil Patrick Harris and Liam Neeson.

Set in 1882, Albert (MacFarlane) is a lowly sheep farmer.  He is smart and realistic about the realities of life on the frontier, life that gets significantly worse when his girlfriend, Louise (Seyfried), dumps him.  Albert thinks it's time to move along from his home town, but his Christian friends Edward (Ribisi) and Ruth (Silverman) persuade him to stay.  Meanwhile, some bad actors move into the area, led by Clinch (Neeson).  He sends his wife, Anna (Theron) to stay in the local town while he pillages the outskirts.

Not knowing her true identity, Albert meets and begins to fall in love with Anna.  Relieved to spend some time with a "good guy" for once, Anna also develops feelings for him.  She begins to teach him the rough-and-tumble skills needed to survive in the West - but will it be enough to save him when Clinch rides into town?

A Million Ways to Die in the West is filled with big names, but uneven performances.  MacFarlane decided to step in front of the camera this time as the lead, farmer Albert.  His character is basically himself narrating, but as a main player:  Albert is easy-going and musing (and amused) as he observes the "idiots" all around him.  The point of the character, to highlight the insanity of life in the Wild West, is the main focus of the comedy and not a bad idea.  But MacFarlane is simply not a very engaging actor, and my attention always went to the other people on screen.  Charlize Theron plays his love interest, Anna, who is basically a walking, talking stereotype.  Don't get me wrong, Theron is as talented an actress as she is gorgeous (the superlative being very), but MacFarlane's use of her is as transparent as it is painful for me to watch (I won't go on that particular rant right now).

The standout in the cast is Neil Patrick Harris, playing the town's rich man.  He is perfectly cast in the role, as Louise's new boyfriend - smug and intelligent to just the right degree, without trying to go any further than that.  He is directly or indirectly responsible for just about all of the funniest parts of the film.  One way that A Million Ways could have dramatically improved would have been to double his screen time.  Liam Neeson has a relatively small role, and it's mostly to cash a fat check.  Ribisi and Silverman are both talented actors, but they share exactly one theme, played over and over.  There are also some cameos, the best by far coming just before the credits in a hilarious tag-on scene.

I've been talking about this more and more in my reviews as it's become clear to me:  while comedies must of course have lots of laughs and hilarious scenes, it is nearly as important for them to handle the non-funny parts well, too.  A Million Ways to Die in the West has some decent humor (although its batting percentage is pretty low), but the story (or "non-funny" parts) drags it into the middle of the desert to starve.  Yes, the film is a parody of the idealization of the Wild West - but did it have to be quite so by-the-numbers?  Actually, it's more accurate to say that it suffers from a staggering number of contemporary film-style cliches.  As many jokes as there are, I was begging for even more because when they stopped, the film becomes deadly dull.  Oh yeah, the jokes.  I generally enjoy MacFarlane's style, but a lot of the attempts are lazy and only mildly amusing.  There are some belly laughs, mostly when they seem to be nonchalant about it (with the exception of one hilariously excruciating and extended "potty" scene starring Harris).

***

Well, after a busy first month and a half of the summer movie season, the overall verdict is quite mixed.  There have been three really good films (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Edge of Tomorrow, Neighbors) and three poor ones (Amazing Spider-Man 2, Godzilla, A Million Ways to Die in the West).  All of the films I most anticipated have been released, so it's up to some "unknowns" to tip the balance one way or the other.  A Million Ways to Die in the West was a discouraging experience for me.  I think MacFarlane has the talent and sensibility to do some great things, and I hope he doesn't settle for "lowest common denominator" efforts like this again.  First off, he needs to remove himself from the screen (beyond cameos); he does great voice work, and should continue that.  Also, it feels to me that MacFarlane may have an axe to grind when it comes to modern relationship dynamics - it's  overt in A Million Ways to Die in the West and, now that I think of it, somewhat there in Ted, too.  Look, mining relationship dynamics is great - but MacFarlane is currently doing so in a tiresome way.  Maybe let's focus more on the fart jokes, for now.  Recommandation: if you're a MacFarlane fan, then rent/Netflix it.  Otherwise, skip.