A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) Directed by Seth MacFarlane. Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson. IMDB says: “As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival.”
A Million Ways to Die in the West is the new comedy from Seth MacFarlane along with the same writers as his previous film, Ted. This new film showcases MacFarlane in a physical role versus his strictly voice acting role in Ted. He plays a guy living in the Wild West that doesn’t really fit in with the survival-of-the-fittest nature of the time. Alongside MacFarlane, Ted Giovanni Ribisi appears, and Sarah Silverman, Neil Patrick Harris, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, and Liam Neeson are aboard as newcomers.
Seth MacFarlane fits the role he is playing well, but doesn’t have the same level of ability as the rest of the cast. The cast is good, but since he is the lead it can be kind of distracting. He doesn’t have the same screen presence as Mark Wahlberg did in Ted. It feels like A Million Ways suffers from this. Not that MacFarlane isn’t likeable or feels like he doesn’t belong, it’s just that he doesn’t sell the jokes as well as someone else could have. It may have worked better with him as a supporting character rather than the lead.
A Million Ways also doesn’t feel like it came about as easy as Ted. When I heard the premise for Ted I was unsure how it would work, but was pleasantly surprised. A Million Ways was almost the opposite. I felt like this was a great idea for a MacFarlane film and would be a great premise for his style of comedy, but the finished product doesn’t have the same appeal. There are a lot of good bits, but then there are jokes that feel forced. The movie did win me over in the end, but it was a slow start.
The best part of the story was probably the relationship between MacFarlane and Charlize Theron’s character. The movie takes a turn up when they start interacting and it’s always nice to see Theron in comedic roles. Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman are a great pair as well. Their relationship brings a lot of the childish laughs I want out of MacFarlane’s work. Neil Patrick Harris is almost reviving his role from How I Met Your Mother, but it works really well for his character.
The movie is worth watching, but could probably benefit from a few tweaks. If you are a fan of his shows or Ted you will most likely leave the theater being satisfied with the film, but wishing for a little more.
