A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST (2014)

Genre: Comedy/Western
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Evan Jones, Ralph Garman, Rex Linn
RunTime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: NC16 (Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 12 June 2014

Synopsis: Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test.

Movie Review:

We were really hoping that this comedy would be rated R21. Seth MacFarlane’s first feature length project Ted (2012) was rated M18 for coarse language, sexual scenes and drug use, and we remember being wildly entertained by the movie about a grown man who has to deal with an obsessive talking teddy bear. After all, it is the talented MacFarlane we are talking about – the creator behind the very funny TV show Family Guy, and the co-creator of other TV comedies like American Dad! And The ClevelandShow.

After a successful directorial debut (Ted was a critic and box office darling), the 40 year old Connecticut born entertainer decides to make a second movie – this time about a cowardly farmer who gets dumped by his girlfriend, falls in love with a mysterious new woman in town, and has to find courage to man up in a showdown with her notorious gun slinger husband.

When we first saw the trailers and promotional posters for this movie, we were excited to see what MacFarlane has up his sleeves. Having what we think is a great amount of creative control as the production’s director, co writer, producer and lead actor, we’d think this would be a hit. Alas, judging from what has been said about the movie, it seems to be a miss.

First, when you see a Seth MacFarlane movie rated NC16 for coarse language and sexual references, you wonder how outrageous the movie could get. The 116 minute movie does feature a few LOL moments, ranging from fart jokes, diarrhoea gags and sheep peeing scenes (yup, you may want to give this movie a miss if you think such humour is crass, crude and unwarranted). However, these moments seem scattershot, and you can’t help but get the feeling that MacFarlane is cautious about bringing on the whole suite of laughs due to mass appeal concerns. The result is a somewhat half hearted attempt to bring out MacFarlane’s signature humour.

Then we have the star studded ensemble cast. Charlize Theron (Snow White and the Huntsman) is the new woman in town, Liam Neeson (The Lego Movie) is the vicious villain, Amanda Seyfried (Les Miserables) is the superficial ex girlfriend, Giovanni Ribisi (Gangster Squad) is a holy townsman and Sarah Silverman (Wreck It Ralph) is a saloon prostitute. Each of these characters are played by a talented actor, but unfortunately end up looking like they are merely dressed up to deliver lines on set. Neil Patrick Harris (The Smurfs) steals the show as a moustache grooming store’s owner, and his scene with diarrhoea and a Western cowboy hat is unforgettably amusing.

Elsewhere, we have the much needed cameo appearances from Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Ewan McGregor (August: OsageCounty), Ryan Reynolds (R.I.P.D.) and Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained), plus a narration from Patrick Stewart (X Men’s movie series). MacFarlane’s Family Guy has featured big names as cameos before, so we didn’t think this would be difficult for him to pull off. We just wished there were more of this slapstick moments to up the laugh factor of this movie. 

Movie Rating:

(Seth MacFarlane’s second feature length movie may not be the outrageous comedy you were wishing for, but it does features a few LOL moments)

Review by John Li