A Million Ways To Die In The West

That went pretty much exactly as I expected it to go. Which is why I liked it. Which makes all of the negative reviews confuse the hell out of me. What exactly were the critics expecting?

Wet Hot American Summer was universally trashed too at the time, and now it's considered a cult classic. I expect the same thing for this film. Granted, it's nowhere near as good as Wet Hot American Summer. But it's a good way to kill two hours and it has a ton of lowbrow laughs.

Doc Brown showing up was so perfect, and I love Django right at the end credits too ("People die at the fair."). And the Indian word for "fine" is "Mila Kunis", because Seth MacFarlane is shameless. You can script yourself making out with Charlize Theron and Adrianne Palicki all you want, Seth. Mila is STILL way out of your league.

If I had any complaints, it's that at 1 and 55 minutes the film feels a little too long. But I kind of feel that might have been deliberate. MacFarlane is making a Western parody spoof while taking the movie format relatively seriously (considering the insane jokes). The jokes are crazy, but like in Ted, MacFarlane tries to make the world they exist in credible, at least within itself. That means standard movie tropes and plot turns, as well as a standard length. If this were more of an edgy comedy than it actually is, it would be paced as such. The full orchestra suggests instead that MacFarlane was far more interested in making an actual movie. Whether he was right to do that or wrong, I can't say. The movie feels a bit long. But it also feels like an actual movie, and a pretty good one at that.

The smiling photo running gag was funny and endearing. Why DIDN'T people ever smile in photos back then? But now that it's pointed out, I can't ever recall a single example. The funniest thing is that in the film itself the reasons Albert and Anna give for why doing that sounds insane actually sound credible, which makes them being wrong even funnier. I loved that bit.

The various awful deaths and Albert's horrified reactions were great. Best bit was the ice block one. So funny it was in the trailers. "That went South so fast!"

There were SO many nasty bits in the film I can't repeat because they make me cringe just thinking about them. That HAD to be a body double for Liam Neeson with the daisy thing. But even if it is, it says that Neeson trusts MacFarlane as a producer and a director that he was all right with that scene happening at all. Maybe it's because nobody ever cast him in comedies before MacFarlane did, and he feels he has something to prove. Either way his lack of vanity about his character being placed in that humiliating position is refreshing.

So yeah. It was funny. Had a good old-fashioned movie happy ending. And it didn't feel as overly mean as many MacFarlane projects, mostly because the premise means he can't bash current celebrities. It was a solid comedy that I greatly enjoyed. ****.