A Million Ways to Die in the West (Film Review)

For a film called A Million Ways to Die in the West it sure takes a while to kill off its first victim (around ten minutes or so); and for a supposed screwball comedy it sure is sparing with its humor while keen on its use of drama.  As Seth MacFarlane’s second directed film I can’t help but compare it to his earlier film Ted, and more so to the likes of his most well-known cartoon Family Guy.  While Ted (where MacFarlane plays a live teddy bear with the voice of Peter Griffin) felt reminiscent to the earlier seasons of Family Guy, with its consistency of unconventional dark humor combined with hidden wit and cleverness, A Million Ways to Die (where MacFarlane acts live using his regular voice aka Brian Griffin’s voice) feels more similar to the newer Family Guy episodes; replacing comedy with unnecessary drama, drawn out action sequences, and more than predictable situational jokes.

The plot revolves around Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane), a cowardly sheep farmer who decides to leave the ever dangerous 19^th century West after his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) breaks up with him.  He decides to stay a bit longer however, after befriending Anna (Charlize Theron); a newcomer to the town who grows a bond with Albert that eventually becomes romantic.  Unknowing to Albert is the fact that Anna is actually the wife of one of the most ruthless outlaws of the West, Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson); leading Albert to decide whether to run for his life or face Clinch in a duel he has virtually no chance of winning…oh and there’s a bunch of other minor characters/cameos that can at times be funny but serve little to no purpose for the plot.

The good majority of A Million Way’s jokes stem from past-to-present observational comedy; pointing out past-Western events present day audiences would find bizarre, along with making modern day phases told in an “old-western” style such as: “Hey you really shouldn't drink and horse”.  When the comedy works it feels similar to a good Jerry Seinfeld act, when it doesn't it feels similar to a parody of a Seinfeld act: “So what’s the deal with airline food!?”  The issue however is not the humor itself, but how heavily the film relies on it.  Throughout the film, characters just stop whatever they’re doing and start pointing out everything odd from a modern day outlook (in particular Albert) to the point where it feels less similar to a Western and more comparable to historical reenactors commenting on how horrible living in the West was.

Yet the film’s a parody of the West right?  So feeling less similar to a Western shouldn't be such a bad aspect…except for the issue that A Million Ways has more serious moments than comical.  To be fair, the film’s consistency of humor isn't so bad at first; jokes are sparing, but still present and dependable for lightening the mood.  There’re even some pretty funny scenes that live up to the title’s name; take for example the bar fight scene where, after a man gets shot, everyone begins a bloody brawl almost instantaneously.  The scene lives up to the film’s title (as there are many different deaths present), but is also fairly comical with Albert and his friend Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) fake fighting over in a corner.  The consistency works great between Albert complaining about Edward accidentally hitting him (leaving a slight bruise) while the bartender simultaneously gets his throat slit open by a broken whisky bottle.

But then A Million Ways takes a turn for the serious, and by the second half of the film you might just forget you’re watching a comedy.  The last half of the film consists of 80% drama, 15% action/chase scenes, and the other 5% to try and remind its audience that it is still a comedy.  The drama works so inconsistently with the comedy and keeps on going and going until you wish the film would just end already!  There’s even a very funny scene involving the main villain’s death, but comes after so much drama that by then the COMEDY feels out of place; and when humor begins feeling out of place in a comedy film you know something’s gone terribly wrong.

I will give the film credit, it does do a good job with developing its main couple.  Both MacFarlane and Theron have great chemistry onscreen, with some of their interactions being comedic highlights; yet even when without comedy I actually enjoyed watching them develop and bond.  Yet good romance does not equal good comedy, and frankly there’s too little humor and not enough consistency for me to recommend A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Perhaps MacFarlane will make a third film that’s better with its comedy, this time having a main character with the voice of Stewie Griffin (then MacFarlane can refer to his films the Family Guy trilogy).