Liam Neeson Funny or Die Skit
Funniest western since Blazzing Saddles
I seem to be in the minority here and probably a different age group, the upper one. Raised on westerns, my favourite source of drama in films, I have avoided this movie because of poor reviews and poor box office. I watched it last night, mainly to see Charlize Theron and was amazed how much I loved it. It opened with majestic scenes of what I took to be Monument Valley, used to such great success by John Ford in his classic westerns with John Wayne. My thoughts went almost immediately to Blazzing Saddles for comparisons, although it is much cruder but I'm used to that now in modern entertainment. Strangely I don't usually like vulgarity in humour but for some reason I overlooked it in this movie. That may be due to the likeable performances from Seth MacFarlane and Theron. Amongst all the sillyness is a completely straight performance by Liam Neeson playing his best violent persona which is another reason why I found it worked. I never realised MacFarlane was the same actor who made Ted, which I really didn't like and for me the crude humour in that was everything I don't like about modern entertainment. Why I forgave him that for this picture is a riddle. Still, I really didn't want this film to finish. I loved the relationship build-up between MacFarlane and Theron and the supporting actors, the violent gags and the cinematography were terrific. Perhaps you have to be an old time western fan to enjoy and sadly it's a bygone genre to modern audiences judging by other comments here. 9 stars from me for the most entertaining movie of the year for me so far.
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Who hasn't wanted to picture the Old West as a bastion of teenage boy humor?
If you know that Seth MacFarlane is the creator of "Family Guy", then you'll have an idea of what "A Million Ways to Die in the West" contains. Executive producing this year's "Cosmos" showed that he has a serious side, but his silliness is on full display here with him in the lead role. The movie shows what the Old West would've been like had it been the brainchild of 10- to 14-year-old boys. Not even "Blazing Saddles" showed the stuff that we see here!
I found Sarah Silverman's character to be the funniest, speaking as casually as she does about oral and anal sex. As for scenes, I liked the whole sequence with the Indians the best. But the movie always knows which kind of movie it is. "AMWTDITW" definitely won't be for everyone, but if you can accept nonstop crude humor then you'll enjoy it. And you're bound to find Charlize Theron and Amanda Seyfried both really hot.
Nerd a--hole. Ha!
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I loved it!
Yeah, yeah; it's getting lacklustre reviews, and I half understand why.
It's not a timeless piece of comedy, but it's got spunk, wonderful production values, inspired comedic acting (even the 'bit' roles), and it has well-turned moments of stunningly genuine romance. Of note: If other comedy films are "better", why did I find more good ol', down-home belly laughs in this one? I think I know why: Sure, MacFarlane can play it blue and scatological, but he also values that other timeless comedic tradition; that which is Truly Funny Because It Is True.
Special Mention for Sarah Silverman. I think she struggles to reach out and touch with her unique and beautiful style, and goes largely unappreciated. MacFarlane gave her a great vehicle, and she lived up to it with the kind of aplomb and vivacity that I've certainly come to expect from her. I sincerely hope moviegoers will recognize this and watch her career with heightened expectations.
One thing I thought a bit odd: The Onion reviewer's main critique was that MacFarlane was "recycling" gags. I was half-expecting to find a tiresome rehashing of a few gags. I started watching, and found it engaging and surprising.
Anyway, it sorta looks like the horse is out of the barn. The flick did sh1t at the box office, and it'll go to DVD and maybe recoup its outlays. Too bad! It deserves better.
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Simply disappointing
Warning: Spoilers
Quickie Review:
After the massive success of Ted, director Seth MacFarlane returns to make another comedy feature film, in which he is also the star. His character, Albert, lives in the West where everything and everyone is deadly. He loses his love Louise (Amanda Seyfried) to Foy (Neil Patrick Harris). With the help of gun-slinging Anna (Charlize Theron) he must duel Foy in a gunfight to win his love back. A Million Ways to Die in the West, is a satirical comedy western that unfortunately does not deliver consistent quality of jokes. You will chuckle a few times sure, but as a whole this is not MacFarlane's best work. Quite frankly this a poor movie that has been advertised in the trailers with all the best jokes.
Full Review:
I enjoy MacFarlane's work in Family Guy and I especially loved Ted. So going in I was quite excited to see A Million Ways to Die in the West. However, by the second half I realized I was actually bored. It pains to me to say this because I really like Seth MacFarlane's sense of humor, but this was just not a good movie.
This is the first time we see MacFarlane in a live action lead role. We know he is good with voice work for animated characters but as a live action actor he's not at the same level of quality. He actually feels out of place, it's more like he is in some skit show. In fact, the whole movie feels like a series of skits, each scene is just set up for a gag. It gets so lost in making all these gags work that there is no coherent flow to the story. This makes an already 2 hour long movie feel longer because you just don't know where it's going, and more importantly the jokes aren't even that funny.
This brings me to the biggest let down of this movie, the jokes. Yes of course there are few chuckles here and there, but even the worst comedies has those. At no point was I bursting with laughter. Later on in the movie, it starts to rely on the dick, fart and poop jokes. Sure, once in a while I can enjoy those jokes, but if the whole scene is depending on that to get some laughter, then I'm switching my brain off because clearly the writers have too. You know they ran out of ideas when they resort to the laxative gag. Dear Hollywood, stop it with the laxative joke, it was funny when I was kid.
Apart from the scenes from the trailer, there is one cameo and a bar fight that I quite enjoyed watching. I think anyone going in with big expectations based on Ted will be sorely disappointed. There are definitely worse comedies out there than this. Still, considering the team and cast involved, A Million Ways to Die in the West should have been so much better.
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Brilliant
Watch and enjoy. Suprised never seen it till '19 😅
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A few genuine laughs, if you can wade through all the toilet humor.
After finding tremendous success with animated sitcoms Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane ventured into the realm of live-action comedy with 2012's smash hit Ted, which featured Mark Wahlberg as a slacker whose best friend is a sex-and-drugs-obsessed teddy bear. While MacFarlane provided the voice and motion capture for the titular stuffed animal, he never actually appeared in the film, but takes center stage in his sophomore effort, A Million Ways to Die in the West.
Set in Arizona in 1882, the film stars MacFarlane as Albert Stark, a mild-mannered sheep farmer living a mundane existence in the rough and tumble town of Old Stump. Stark has just lost his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) to a wealthy local businessman (Neil Patrick Harris), and spends his days drinking away his sorrows with his best (and seemingly only) friend Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) and his prostitute fiancée, Ruth (Sarah Silverman).
Meanwhile, notorious outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson) has dispatched his wife to Old Stump to await his arrival while he and the rest of the gang pull off another stagecoach robbery. After a chance encounter during a bar fight, Anna (Charlize Theron) takes an immediate liking to Stark, and agrees to help him win back the heart of his lost love, but omitting her true identity could have grave consequences when Clinch discovers who she's spending her days with.
While the plot sounds like it could have come from any number of Western films, everything that occurs on screen is through the filter of MacFarlane's unique sense of humor. Simultaneously poking fun at genre tropes while also paying homage to the classics, A Million Ways to Die in the West offers plenty to laugh at, including a hilarious song and dance number about men's facial hair, and an absurd variety of comedic death sequences.
Unfortunately, these moments are overshadowed by the fact that most of the film's humor is derived from the sort of R-rated content that MacFarlane can't get away with on television. There are only so many jokes about semen, diarrhea, and homosexuality that an audience can absorb before these topics stops being funny, but the film continues well past that mark, with Silverman coming across as particularly grating. After years of the exact same schtick, haven't people grown tired of hearing her talk about her vagina?
MacFarlane has proved time and again that he can write intelligent, thought-provoking comedy, but much like his previous film, he seems far too willing to cast that aside in favor of dick jokes and lame attempts to be offensive and shocking, just for the sake of being offensive and shocking. A Million Ways to Die in the West isn't a bad film - indeed, I think it's a vast improvement over Ted - but it's still not the MacFarlane film that I had hoped for. He's better than this, and hopefully we'll see that in his next flick.
-- Brent Hankins, www.nerdrep.com
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Silence and Tumbleweeds not included
Comedy westerns have a strong legacy through classics like Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles", "Support your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter" (with James Garner), "Paleface" and "Son of Paleface" (with Bob Hope and Jane Russell) all the way back to the brilliant "Destry Rides Again" (with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich). Unfortunately for each of these classics there's the odd "Wild Wild West" to restore movie western Karma, and Seth Macfarlane's follow on to "Ted" – "A Million Ways to Die in the West" – is on that other side of the scales.
Macfarlane aside (who really isn't funny enough to take the leading role of the sheep farmer Albert) the rest of the cast is bordering on stellar featuring Liam Neeson, Sarah Silverman, Amanda Seyfried and the gorgeous Charlize Theron. And they work very hard at it: Theron occasionally laughs like a hyena (to cover the fact that normally we are not) and Neeson plays the straight man villain very straight indeed.
So let's accentuate the positive for a moment. The photography of the Utah locations is gorgeous. Joel McNeely's western score is sumptuous (gotta love a western soundtrack) and the songs (including the moustache song and the title song) are both catchy and suitably ridiculous.
And there are moments in this film that are genuinely funny: Sarah Silverman's Christian hooker with a heart who is "saving herself" for her husband-to-be, played by the excellent Giovanni Ribisi (Frank Buffay Jnr in "Friends"), while servicing 10 of the locals ("on a slow day"); shooting practice with plates and a doctor's blue woodpecker for the aftermath; the Navajo translation for "fine" being "Mila Kunis" and – most surreal of all – Albert's drugged up trip with moustache wearing dancing sheep.
There are also some amusing cameos, particularly one in a barn (don't watch some of the trailers that cheaply give it away).
But the bits that did make me really laugh were few and far between. A lot of the jokes fall face first into the dry Utah dust with the humour similar to Albert's aim: scattergun. The script stoops to swearing at every opportunity (because that's always funny isn't it?) and whilst toilet humour can work in moderation you need to know when to stop and when to leave something to the imagination. I'd like to suggest that this was a self-written, self-directed over-indulgent piece by Macfarlane, given carte blanche to indulge, and over-indulge, by studio execs after the runaway success of "Ted" – - but he did have co-writers who could and should have balanced his content more (Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild – I haven't actually checked that these don't make an anagram of Seth Macfarlane).
Comedy movies need to have good material across the whole running time, which means the films need to be tautened until the material 'twangs' along its whole length. This was not one of those films.
(If you enjoyed this review, please check out my other reviews on bobmann447.wordpress.com, and sign up to "Follow the Fad". Thanks!).
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Not that bad
This movie has gotten sh*t from a lot of reviewers. Still I have no clue why. It wasn't that bad. Sure, there's the recycling gag thingy people complain about, there's potty humor and swears. But this is the thing; it's not intended to be a classy, heartfelt comedy. It's just a very funny and immature slapstick comedy. It's clear that Seth McFarlanes humor isn't classy, clever or original. However, he does manage to create a somewhat funny movie that can be enjoyed. Now, I like stupid, silly movies. I don't like cleverly written comedies. So, If you are a fan of Family Guy or Ted's humor, you will probably like this movie.
A lot of reviewers tend to review this movie as like it is trying to be an Oscar movie. It isn't. All the actors did a great job (even the small rolls), the jokes weren't all over the place & it was actually quite enjoyable. They're having fun, we're having fun. Nothing wrong with that.
I don't understand why people go into movies like these expecting them to be some kind of comical masterpiece when the trailer was clear enough about it just being another random & dumb slapstick comedy. People are stupid enough to go watch it knowing what type of movie this is and expecting it to be something it's not.
So bottom line: If you like stupid & silly comedies with racist jokes & stereotypes, go watch this one. If you are a typical fan of the humor in Family Guy, South Park etc you will enjoy. There's plenty of different kinds of jokes in here. None of them classy, but funny. Toilet humor, foul mouths, racist stereotypes, offensive parodies & a few references that will be totally unexpected. If you're a fan of cleverly written scripts & wants to watch a classy comedy film; well, this movie is a total waste of time for you. I watched this expecting it to be really dumb, but enjoyable and it surpassed my expectations. The plot is simple, the jokes aren't clever but funny, the actors are doing a more than well job. I couldn't ask for more. This one deserves at least a 7 star rating. I found this movie much funnier than TED, which also was pretty dumb.
I rarely listen to what reviewers say about a movie before watching it first. You should do the same and judge for yourself. I just don't think it deserves the hate.
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A Million Ways To Flop In The West
First of all, I like MacFarlane's work and I am big fan of 'Family Guy', 'American Dad' and his previous live-action feature 'Ted', but 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' was set for being panned from the moment the trailer was unveiled. This is a real shame because the film does have some good aspects to it, at times it is evident that MacFarlane was trying to pay homage to some of the original westerns but at other times he was trying too hard to modernise a genre that didn't need it, and as a result the film was littered with grotesque sex jokes and toilet humour. Now don't get me wrong, I did chuckle a few times, but very few times at that. Liam Neeson's casting as the villain was indeed a good choice and he pulls off the role very well, especially alongside the stunning Charlize Theron in all her glory. I did enjoy the subtle references to 'Back to the Future' and 'Django Unchained', but despite these certain affluences, the film just generally lacked elsewhere and was unfortunately heavily flawed; a disappointing project from MacFarlane.
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A good watch!
I've sometimes enjoyed watching Family Guy and actually even enjoyed Ted. Reading the reviews on this movie made me not go see it in theaters, but I am satisfied with my choice to finally watch and to have given it a chance. Because of this, this is my first review posted on years of being on this site.
Seth knows his niche and the audience the directs his work towards. It was nice to have a genuinely funny movie that falls in line with the sense of humor I expected.
If you don't like his regular work, I don't recommend it, but if you do, you'll probably enjoy.
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Boredom could be one of them, for some
It's 1882 in Arizona, the heartland of the American West. We follow the life of Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane), an incompetent and inept sheep farmer whose girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) breaks up with him because of his glaring lack of courage and skill. Depressed and discouraged by how his life is full of disappointment and how every instance of love is then destroyed and robbed from him, Albert finds comfort in Anna (Charlize Theron), a newcomer to his small village. Albert is attracted to her, initially, by her beauty, but realizes she's the courage and confidence he has always hungered for. However, when the infamous West outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson) arrives in town, Albert realizes that he has just intruded on Clinch and Anna's husband-and-wife relationship, and Clinch is hungry for retribution. On the other hand, Albert also has to find the gunslinging skill in order to battle Louise's new boyfriend - the cocky and wealthy Foy (Neil Patrick Harris) - in a shootout in front of the entire town.
A Million Ways to Die in the West may not have been the best followup to Seth MacFarlane's monster comedy hit Ted just two years ago. Despite critical/audience reception on the film taking a turn for the worse in recent time, I found that film absolutely hilarious in its brazenness and its levels of romance and heart to be on-point for a raunchy comedy of the modern day. A Million Ways to Die in the West feels like it came about when MacFarlane was sitting around a table with a few of his buddies for dinner and the gang of friends got to talking about how life in the American West must have been hell for the simple townspeople who weren't notorious gunslingers or dangerous outlaws. What they then proceeded to concoct was a barrage of events and downsides to living in one of America's most free and lawless times and what was formed was a satire on the American West life.
To be fair, the film has certain merit to it. When the film isn't getting caught up in excessive use of shock humor and gross-out gags and relying on criticizing conventions of the West, it becomes a very funny and often hilarious endeavor. When it, however, resorts to using diarrhea and urinating sheep as it core jokes is when the film becomes a tad insufferable. This is particularly frustrating because we know MacFarlane is capable of so much more than what is presented here.
However, MacFarlane excels when the screenplay calls for delivery of lengthy monologues explaining why the West is such a hellhole. Consider the scene that takes place in a local saloon, where Albert is talking with his close friends about how doctors use unorthodox practices, "modern" medicine kills and harms more than it heals, there is a new "disease of the week" every week, and everything that isn't you in the West wants you dead. This kind of humor is much more low-key and plays different instruments than the abundance of shock humor MacFarlane employs later on in the film. Was he fearful that the humor would be far too low-key and subtle for many to pick up on? Then there's the fact that the film is an unforgivably overlong one-hundred and fifty-six minutes when I initially struggled to see how this film could sustain ninety minutes. Being that it's MacFarlane, scenes drag out, subplots are introduced, musical numbers are introduced, and several little cameos such as the hilarious Bill Maher and Jamie Foxx turn up almost constantly. I am a fan of MacFarlane's rapid-fire style of filmmaking, and I admire this effort for the fact that it has to dodge contemporary pop culture references being that the story takes place in 1882. MacFarlane seemingly used those pop culture references as a cop out for story lines and plot points in his television show Family Guy, especially in the most recent episodes.
It's incredible the cast of characters MacFarlane managed to get to partake in this affair. Theron and Neeson partake in some rare comedic performances to a solid effect, and Sarah Silverman as the town hooker works because of her comedic openness. It's hard to believe the weakest performer at hand is MacFarlane himself, who finds ways to overact in many places and can't convey emotions due to his single-facial expression.
With A Million Ways to Die in the West MacFarlane creates a mildly-amusing writing exercising that turns into a sometimes funny but often middling farce on western life. The musical numbers are entertaining enough, the performances and the cameos are something to anticipate, and the aftertaste it leaves is not bitter nor offensive; just somewhat underwhelming.
Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Neil Patrick Harris, and Amanda Seyfried. Directed by: Seth MacFarlane.
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"What is there to live for on the frontier in 1882?"
Warning: Spoilers
I wasn't counting but I don't think there were a million ways to die here. What you have though is the "Bad Santa" of Western movies, a veritable "Blazing Saddles" on steroids by the time this thing runs it's course. I'm not big on the toilet humor aspects of the dialog here, but a lot of the picture actually was funny, leaving me more positive than negative on the movie. What MacFarlane's not afraid to do is take all the stereotypical PC nonsense and stand it on it's head, like you have in the runaway slave shooting gallery and the Islamic Death Chant. Maybe there was some outrage over this stuff when the flick came out but I didn't hear about it, but as you can see I'm a little late to this party. There was some clever stuff in the picture like the 'nobody's got a dollar' bit, the picture of the smiling guy, and the cowboy midgets, reminiscent of a real old time flick from 1938 - "The Terror of Tiny Town" with an all midget cast for a Western. Also somewhat derivative is the final showdown, hearkening back to the Gene Hackman/Sharon Stone spoof from 1995, "The Quick and The Dead". For me, the rapid fire one liners and snappy dialog get my attention, and total nonsense like Christopher Lloyd's cameo is always a treat. It shows that Seth MacFarlane is all over the place as a writer and nothing is too goofy that can't be worked into a script. I wonder what Clint Eastwood thought of Clinch Leatherwood.
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Congratulations Seth, your film legacy will continue (to grow) for decades with great films like this one! I hope to see many more films from your brilliant team.
Congratulations Seth, your film legacy will continue (to grow) for decades with great films like this one! I hope to see many more films from your brilliant team.
Okay fans and naysayers alike just repeat the movie's title to yourself very slowly…."A Million Ways To Die In The West". What Seth is making light of with this film is the fact that in reality, back in the 1880's a cowboys life expectancy was much shorter than what we the audience have going for us today. Additionally, for the lovely ladies that appear in the film there is a message as well, if you were not married by the age of 15 your probability of finding a decent man to live your short life with was drastically reduced. Although Seth takes the marriage requirements to extremes as with Anna (played by Charlize Theron) who tells Seth that she was given away in the hand of marriage by her parents at the age of 9 to marry the evil gunslinger Clinch (played by Liam Neeson) who she does not love.
The story revolves around a sheep farmer named Albert (played by Seth MacFarlane) whose life has just fallen apart when he declines to die in a street gunfight. His then girlfriend big eyes Louise (played by Amanda Seyfried) breaks up with her cowardly beau immediately after he walks away from the gunfight challenge. And so our sheep farmer Albert is consoled by his good friend the local shoe repairman Edward (played by Giovanni Ribisi) that there is still plenty in his life to look forward to rather than be depressed because his girlfriend has just dumped him. Edward is in love with the saloon prostitute Ruth (played by Sarah Silverman), who even on a slow day screws at least 10 guys, but wants to keep her chastity intact with Edward until after they are married. Go figure? It is at the 12 minute and 50 second stage of the film that Albert explains to Edward and Ruth in the saloon that he is leaving their town of Stumpville (named because there is a huge tree stump in the middle of the town) rather than die imminently from a variety of rare but real causes of death which are then interspersed throughout the film quite comically. For all the negative critics of this film you need to take a reality check. The films purpose is to provide its audience with 2 hours of comedy relief and I for one would recommend for people to see it and take it for what is was intended to provide. If there was a negative comment to make I thought the F bomb was used a bit too often and not always called for. On the bright side we have Ruth's new boyfriend the well to do Foy, (played superbly by Neil Patrick Harris) who runs a men's boutique selling hair and moustache products. Foy's character is a latter day re-imaging of Neil Patrick Harris's character Barney Stinson from the 10 year running television comedy How I Met Your Mother. Foy and his handlebar moustache is a hoot and although the use of human excrement has been overly used for cheap humor in many films, I thought Seth's approach was hilarious.
There are a number of great cameo appearances by known actors such as Django's Jamie Foxx, Ewan McGregor, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Bill Maher's one minute date at the barn dance with a 10 year old girl was very funny, Ryan Reynolds, Mae Whitman, Dennis Haskins and Gilbert Gottfried. Each of their appearances provides a statement that they believe in Seth Meyers brilliance as well and wanted to be a part of this movie's success. A Million Ways to Die in the West cost $40 million to make, and has already grossed $86 million worldwide to date. So for all the negative reviews I have read, money talks and BS walks.
Seth MacFarlane I congratulate you for your comedic spin on writing, directing and starring in this Western Comedy film. It is rare for a person to pull off this type of successful triple threat of writing, directing and acting in a film which turns out a profit. We have all seen films that when they first came out were not seen as classics by either film critics or the movie fans. Let's take the classic 1946 Jimmy Stewart Christmas film "It's A Wonderful Life" as an example of what I am talking about. As of today February 20, 2015, the film still remains 26th on the top 250 IMDb list, but at the time of its original release was a box office disappointment. I believe as the years pass us by, and Seth MacFarlane's body or work extends to many other facets beyond animation, comedy and westerns, A Million Ways to Die in the West will continue to grow in its popularity and through time Seth MacFarlane's fan base will challenge and eventually surpass the popularity of Mel Brooks body of work both in ratings and more importantly in box office revenues.
As a footnote, Seth MacFarlane in real life was provided an incorrect flight time by his travel agent for his flight departure on September 11, 2001 due to a mix-up, and as a result missed his flight which ended up being the first plane that was crashed into New York City's twin towers in one of the greatest disasters of world history. There is more than A Million Ways to Die in the West, and I don't know if Mr. MacFarlane subconsciously was thinking how his life was spared on this terrible day for the world's people, but Mr. MacFarlane thank you for bringing humor into this so serious world. As for you naysayers, read the film's title very slowly once again…A Million Ways To Die In The West.
I rate this comedy western classic a strong 8.4 out of 10. Keep up the great work Seth!
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Definitely good picture
Greetings from Lithuania.
"A Million Ways to Die in the West" (2014) is a really fun film. Comedy / spoof of 60's westerns works here. Acting was OK, cinematography was very solid, music is good, and jokes were good as well (sadly, not all). It's not the "best comedy ever type" of a film, but it's a solid one. Actually acting by Giovanni Ribisi and Neil Patrick Harris were a standouts, and Giovanni Ribisi's story in this picture was the most funny.
Overall, to enjoy this picture you have to relax, and enjoy the ride. It's not the most original one, but for one evening it definitely does it's job.
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Funny and Well Acted,
A Million Ways to Die in the West is a good movie with a well written storyline and an outstanding comedic cast. This movie is getting a lot of negative reviews that I don't think it deserves, it may not be Seth MacFarlane's finest work, but he took on a risky project that I think he did a great job with for the most part. The western area looks beautiful and MacFarlane did a great job acting, this being the first film where he plays a character that he does not simply voice, he came across as very confident, hopefully this is not his last live action film role. It did certainly have its flaws, though I found a lot of the film hilarious, some of the humour was lame and immature, such as comstant references to the rarity of a dollar or prostitution, a sequence where Neil Patrick Harris deficates and a lot of death, there were definitely bits that felt unnecessary, that the movie would have been better off without. A lot of aspects to Albert Stark's character were underdeveloped, I think they could have scoped it more, such as his job as a sheep herder, his complicated relationship with his parents and the reason as to why he lives in fear, helping the audience know about the character's life would have let us relate to him more. A Million Ways to Die in the West is an enjoyable and funny movie, fans of MacFarlane's previous work, such as Family Guy, American Dad and Ted should definitely check it out, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good comedy.
A man who is terrified of living in the Wild West must face his fears when a vicious gunslinger arrives to town to get his wife back and battle the man who has been seeing her.
Best Performance: Charlize Theron
Worst Performance: Gilbert Gottfried
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Well done, some awkward/lagging moments
I saw this movie last night and liked it. It's beautifully shot, and the panoramic "wild west" landscape and costumes and sets are beautifully western. The story arc was interesting, if a bit predictable, but the whole setting and story is really just a line on which MacFarlane hangs a bunch of jokes. He is a comedian with a "here and now" sensibility, and all of his works seem to be interesting/funny in the specific scene but perhaps a little poorly done in terms of the arc of the whole story.
Charlize Theron was great. She turned in a solid and strong performance, as a tough-but-battered woman with a raunchy sense of humor and a very loving and protective heart. Others have noted that MacFarlane's performance doesn't quite hold up to hers, but there were moments when his uncanny big Irish mug and delivery were perfect.
I was not expecting to find an innocent love story about people making the most of their lives and their situations. I was not expecting many of the things in the film, but enjoyed it all. 8 out of 10 because I'm knocking the film for its slender story arc. Another producer or some studio bigwigs could perhaps have retooled the script to make it more dramatic or rapid -- but then they might have killed off the good things in the script, too. All in all, I recommend.
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Pure Foul-Mouth Drivel
And trust me, that one star was given grudgingly.If nothing else, this picture clearly shows how far down the ladder of creativity movie making has fallen. It's as if a bunch of dirty-minded, foul-mouth juveniles got together and decided to make a movie and put in it every goofy, dirty, idiotic, dumb idea and utterance they could think of. And they must have because here is plainly the result. What a colossal waste of talent. I don't know how long this took to film but everyone in it could have made better use of their time had they stood around and chucked rocks down a sink hole. Seth MacFarlane as writer, director, producer and so-called actor of this unfunny, boring mess has proved with this one undertaking that he is a quadruple waste of time. Trust me, you'd have a better time sitting out in a puddle playing in the mud than you'd have in this dirt- poor excuse for a movie.
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A laugh a minute
This movie is funny from start to finish. Lots of unexpected and original humor. Cleverly blends funny situations and lines from different contexts - modern, crude and all the old fashioned classic Western genres.
Great cast perfectly suited to their roles. Charlize is lovely and funny. Seth acts well amidst all these seasoned actors. Liam looks good in his Western outfit and doesn't look too old. Giovanni Ribisi is funny. Sarah Silverman too. Neil Patrick Harris is quite right with his mustache. Amanda Seyfried - her eyes!
The wild west monument valley and desert scenery and filming are beautiful.
Well done.
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Deserves a much better rating than what people have so far given
I'll start off by saying I'm a huge Seth Macfarlane fan. I love Family Guy and American Dad (Cleveland show has its moments too!) Ted was also a great film in my opinion so I hoped this one would live up to my expectations and it did not disappoint. I feel it got a low ranking mainly from people who don't understand the sarcastic humour that was obviously apparent throughout. I thought the film was incredibly witty, extremely funny with constant laugh out loud moments and it also had a decent plot with some great acting from Seth himself (who would have known he was just as great in front of the camera?) The great cast showcases to me that people could see great potential in the script and all actors involved really held their own in making this film a brilliant comedy. PS this is the first review I've ever written and I registered specifically to help make the rating of this film more acceptable.
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Pretty good overall
Warning: Spoilers
I've been pretty excited about this movie ever since I first saw the trailer a few months ago. I was sure that it would be the funniest movie of the year and I was a little disappointed. Thats not t say that this movie wasn't funny it just wasn't hilarious like I'd hoped. Even though A Million Ways to Die in the West was not the funniest movie I've ever seen it was still a good movie. On top of being funny the story was entertaining and very well done. Seth MacFarlane is a sheep farmer who gets dumped by his girlfriend and then spends most of the movie trying to get her back. It's entertaining watching him go from kind of a coward to less of a coward. I know that makes it sound like he did not change at all throughout the movie but he does and it's fun to watch. Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron worked well together and had a believable relationship and Sarah Silverman and Giovanni Ribisi were also very good together. In particular every scene Sarah Silverman was in were all really funny.
After the movie my friend said to me that he didn't like the ending because he was expecting a much more epic final shoot out between Seth MacFarlane and Liam Neeson and I get where he is coming from but have to disagree. I thought that the way it ended fit the overall tone of the rest off the movie. I really don't get why this movie is getting all of the hate that it's getting. If I had to guess I would think it is probably because like me people expected it to be funnier than it ended up being and since it is supposed to be a comedy a lot of people probably automatically decided it was a bad movie. I can't say that I blame anyone for thinking that but if you are thinking about seeing this movie I'd say don't worry about all the bad or mixed reviews and just go see it for yourself. If you like Seth MacFarlane type humor you will probably like this movie.
I give A Million Ways to Die in the West an 8/10
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Funny and entertaining
The American West, 1880s. A passive, shy sheep farmer tries to avoid conflict, a trait which has kept him alive but has now resulted in his girlfriend leaving him. She is now with a dapper, successful, extroverted store owner, Foy, a fact Foy keeps reminding him of. When the rivalry leads to a duel, he gets help from an unexpected, beautiful source.
Pretty good, and unexpectedly so. I like Seth MacFarlane, largely for The Family Guy (but Ted was pretty good too), but his comedies can be low-brow at times and the trailers for the this seemed to bear that out. Having eventually watched this, I am pleasantly surprised.
Quite funny with some of the usual MacFarlane humour: clever, satirical, topical and sometimes over the top. He does resort to some low-brow stuff on occasion but for the most part it quite original and intelligent.
The plot is fairly conventional and merely a platform for the humour, but that's pretty much what you'd expect from a comedy.
Solid performances from MacFarlane himself plus Charlize Theron, Neal Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Neeson.
Good fun.
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Offers Laughs Throughout
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) offers a variety of laughs and comedy gags that one would expect from a typical Seth McFarlane directed film. Besides the ubiquity of violent death, Albert Stark (Seth McFarlane has other woes. His self-obsessed girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) has left him for Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), and he's much despised in the 1882 Arizona township of Old Stump for backing down from gunfights. But he finds consolation when the mysterious Anna (Charlize Theron) roams into town and takes a shine to him. Only trouble is that, unknown to him, she's married to the territory's most lethal bandit, Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson).
From its opening shots of Monument Valley, with Joel McNeeley's score cheerfully pastiching everything from Bonanza to The Big Country , it's evident that with his second feature (after 2012's Ted ) MacFarlane's set out to deliver on the entire sagebrush canon from a great height. A Million Ways to Die in the West is a solid follow up from his hit Ted, but the main criticism is that it is no Ted, meaning in plot, structure or overall film deliver. Although this film does have a its audience and the cast is well, along with the enjoyment.
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After a rewatch (08/17/17') A Million Ways to Die in the West remains a funny and enjoyable watch due to the acting and flow of the film. A lot of the criticism seems to be unwarranted and appears that people did not expect this type of humour. The trailers and the knowledge of Seth MacFarlane would show what kind of film this would be.
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Wild West Bandits Stoled My Money Too
Warning: Spoilers
Let's just say that the beginning of the film is symbolic of what Seth McFarland and his gang are going to do to you. My wife and son seemed to enjoy the movie, but I laughed more at my wife laughing than at the movie itself. First, pretty much all of the supposedly-funny scenes were shown in the previews. Second, use of the f-word in itself is not funny unless it's used by someone totally out of character, like grandma or a nun. Simply throwing it randomly in every so often is not comedy. "Let's get effed up," Seth utters in one 'hilarious' scene. Ha, ha, ha. Hadn't realized I'd walked into a spring-break movie aimed at teens.
Basically, the dialog is not very funny, and the physical comedy mostly relies on grossing you out.
I enjoyed 'Ted,' but will not likely rush out to see Seth's next offering after this nonsense. This is right up there with the same crap Seth Rogen makes. And to think I actually named one of my children 'Seth.' I thought it such an innocent choice at the time...
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Well Seth, you blew it...
Warning: Spoilers
I was expecting something at least sorta funny and entertaining. But alas what I got an overly gross, less than childish, stupid movie that hardly had any chuckles and no real laughs to me. The thing that made me chuckle the most was the "runaway slave" shooting gallery because it WAS funny and audacious to put in a movie. (I think we all need to mellow out and laugh at ourselves a bit more because our history can be funny/silly).
Anyway, back to Million...sheesh what a waste of time and money, IMO. I am thinking I will not see the new 22 Jump St. because I am sick and tired of so-called gross humor & from the trailer it is more of the same crappola. It is gross and not humorous. Ugh.
Charlize Theron is always a good actress to me and how Seth got her to play in this gross movie is beyond me. And Liam? Puleeze, he must have made mint to be in this piece of junk. Just writing about it puts a bad taste in my mouth. I gotta go see the other Million movie...Million Dollar Arm!
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Wanted to like it but didn't. An interesting inconsistent misfire
This review comes from someone who likes Famnily Guy and really enjoyed TED... but this new one... was... ouch... I went in expecting a few laughs but there were fewer than even my low expectations predicted. Other than the script everything is top notch. Actors are great. Charlize and Liam and Sarah Silverman etc are terrific. It's too bad they didn't have something better to work with.
Liam in fact seems like he's in a different movie. He's 100 percent serious. That might be Seth's point in making a guy (himself) who is caught in the middle of a serious horrible deadly world that the west really was.
It looks very good visually. Great score. But very inconsistent. Not hit and miss. More like hit and miss miss miss groan miss semi-hit miss. And the joke style kept changing. Silly to sweet to over the top and serious at times. and some of the jokes were so disgusting I don't know what they were thinking. (and i like disgusting)
Plus the anachronistic style gets tired fast.
And Seth as predicted should not have made himself the lead. He's not awful but would have benefited greatly with a pro. His persona is not fit for leading man status. And his voice and style is so in step with Brian's on family guy its a bit distracting.
Basically the tone of this film keeps changing. The joke styles keep changing. it doesn't know what it is. Is is a sweet western romcom? Is it a satire? Is it a serious comedy?
With all the success from Ted I'm guessing Seth had carte blanche with this one and probably needed someone to question him more.
Might be more fun if your stoned. Really really stoned. And/or maybe just see Blazing Saddles instead.
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557490/reviews
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