I want to make one point clear at the start of this review: I
don’t really like Seth MacFarlane. His
penchant for pop culture reference and cartoony frat-boy non-sequitur
shenanigans was amusing to me when I was a teenager watching Family Guy, but as the years have gone
by I’ve recognized MacFarlane as a bit of a one-trick pony. He’s managed to make a decent career for
himself off that one trick, and I don’t find him to really be offensive in any
way, so I’m pretty content to categorize his humor as something that just doesn’t
work for me. If you like him, that’s
fine; to each their own. That said, even
taking into account my dislike for MacFarlane’s comedic sensibilities, A Million Ways To Die In The West is not
a good movie. It’s more like a single
episode of Family Guy that’s has been
stretched to a two hour breaking point than a solid movie, and the jokes get
old pretty fast once you realize that the movie has shown its hand by the end
of the first half hour.
And, unfortunately, this film doesn’t have a strong enough
plot to carry it without good humor.
MacFarlane plays a sheep farmer who’s self-aware of the shitty living
conditions of the old west and is perpetually the smartest guy in the room in a
town full of idiots. He’s the victim of
a nice-guys-finish-last scenario when his beautiful girlfriend dumps him for a
manlier archetype, and what starts off as a reclamation-of-his-girlfriend quest
becomes one of self-discovery and self-esteem with the help of a new love
interest who cares for him just the way he is.
Essentially, this is just a high school nerd empowerment fantasy set in
the Old West, and the film hits the appropriate beats exactly on que every
time. In other words, we’ve been there,
done that.
The only way such a tired premise could work is if
substantial comedy writing takes the brunt of the entertainment
responsibilities, and it seems like MacFarlane and his writing associates
really phoned this one in. The film has
approximately five recurring gags to its credit, and that’s about it. They usually are a variation on the theme of
“Boy, the Old West really kinda sucked, huh?” sometimes followed by some
rudimentary slapstick. But instead of
building on its gags to reiterate its points in new and interesting situations,
the jokes simply become repetitive. For
example, there’s a joke about a guy dating a prostitute who won’t have sex with
him because she genuinely wants to wait until they’re married. I see how that can be funny, but the film
decides to remind us how funny it is by simply repeating the same punchline on
at least four separate occasions throughout the film. Even if you thought it was funny the first
time, I doubt you would think it so after two hours of repetition.
A Million Ways To Die
In The West is a pretty unfortunate spectacle, as it genuinely seems to
think itself a silly Old West comedy in the tradition of something like Blazing Saddles, yet comes off as
something left on the cutting room floor for one of MacFarlane’s animated
shows. Its greatest sin is that it just
feels boring and tired, the worst thing for any comedy to be. Even if you like Seth MacFarlane, this
probably isn’t the film for you, because MacFarlane certainly hasn’t brought
his A-game.
What are your thoughts on Seth MacFarlane? Overrated?
Underrated? Don’t really
care? Let me know in the comments below.
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