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| Review by Clay N Ferno |
Seth MacFarlane writes, directs, produces and stars in this weekend’s Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West.
Co-starring Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson and a host of other regulars from Seth’s world include Giovanni Ribisi, Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Silverman.
The anachronistic dialogue and quite a few fart jokes peppered throughout the movie make for a fun ride, but if you are expecting Ted with cowboy boots, you might be disappointed.
Kudos to Seth MacFarlane for taking a swing at the classic Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles by adding his own vision to the Old West.
Fans of his writing and jokes, Family Guy et al. will once again be delighted to see this on the big screen. By sticking to a comedy romance story, much like Ted, the formula could work for him for years to come, dipping into different genres and film tropes a la Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
As a leading man, he is able to carry the movie in the way that only someone so heavily invested in the story can do, a singular creator as the main hero with a redemption story. He starts the movie as a recently dumped sheep farmer who can’t shoot a bottle off of a fence and ends up with the girl at the end. Pretty standard stuff, but some people headed to this film might not realize that while the voice may seem familiar as Peter, Brian and Stewie Griffin is the leading man here staring back at them.
MacFarlane’s recognition factor aside, he does do his best to bring his vision to life. And he does so largely with support from his fantastic co-stars. His best friend Ed (Ribisi) is courting town whore Ruth (Silverman) but has yet to seal the deal with his girlfriend. Silverman’s Ruth has most of the funniest lines in the movie, and their take on the There’s Something About Mary hair gel scene might make you retch or die laughing.
When Anna (Theron) rolls into town, escaping the clutches of her ruthless gunslinger husband Clinch (Neeson) she stands up for and props up Albert (MacFarlane) who has just been dumped by the gold digging Louise (Amanda Seyfried). Louise dropped the lowly sheep farmer Albert in favor of the steampunk dandy and owner of ‘The Moustacherie’ Foy (Harris).
The Moustacherie is a hilarious shoppe on Main Street, complete with a wooden sign, that sells, as you might imagine all manner of tonics, foams, and fortifying agents for the ultimate sign of class in this age and now — a well groomed mustache!
The Foy and Albert rivalry comes to a head when they challenge each other to a duel. Anna, in tribute to Annie Oakley is a fast and accurate shot and teaches these skills to Albert, in the film’s only montage (darn it, there is always room for another montage!).
Some of the jokes work, some don’t. The setting for the movie restricts any blatant reference to modern pop culture, but one analogy about kids playing with a hoop and a stick ruining kid’s attention span like iPhones do today was an example of a ‘nice try – but not quite there’ joke popping up in the movie occasionally.
What the movie did really well was the Western tropes from the Old Timey doctor (usually a dentist) with bizarre cures, the shootout (there are several, planned if not executed, with two gunslingers facing down on Main St.) and of course the “You spilled my drink,” spark to an all out Saloon Rumble, capital R.
When Neeson’s tough Clinch returns to town, even more tension pops off between Albert and Clinch, driving Albert from his sheep ranch and eventually on a vision quest with local Indians and drugs. An Alice In Wonderland CGI scene of his trip is bizarre and out of place, but does give Albert the strength to stand up to Clinch eventually.
At some point in the movie we are treated to a fully choreographed square dance scene, better than Footloose with Foy taunting Albert and switching partners between Louise and Anna the whole time.
And you know what Neil Patrick Harris is good at? That’s right, singing and dancing. Probably because he is singing and dancing to Stephen Foster’s “If You’ve Only Got a Moustache”. This here is the highlight of the film and is perfectly set up by a Bill Maher cameo, as the MC to the hoe-down.
Other highlights are the NPH sex scene, the Silverman/Ribisi sex scene and practically everything about the Fair scene.
In all, for summer comedies, we’re looking at this being a highlight. MacFarlane’s next big screen project is the sequel to Ted, we’re hoping that to be as bizarre as the first one. It will be interesting to see if he takes on more leading roles in the future, especially in movies that are from his pen. If so, that is a very old Hollywood move and a rare case where I would encourage that.
Check out A Million Ways to Die in the West for the laughs, sprawling Old West cinematography and a cheerful score.
And fart and diarrhea jokes.
