A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) Movie Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? Did you all have a good weekend? I had a quiet one compared to last weekend, but it was still pretty good. I'm back with a movie review. I know, it's been a while since I've done one of these. But last night I watched Seth MacFarlane's 2014 film, A Million Ways to Die in the West and I thought that now is a great time to write about it. Especially since we still don't know if The Orville has been renewed for a fourth season or not. There will only be a minor spoiler in this review so I can talk about my favourite scene, so let's get right into it.

Released theatrically on May 30th 2014, A Million Ways to Die in the West, which was Seth MacFarlane's second live action film that he directed, after Ted in 2012, was panned by critics. It also underperformed at the box office due to the fact that it came out the same day as Maleficent, and it was in competition with 2014's other heavy hitters, X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which had come out only a few weeks earlier. 

Seth MacFarlane is also a very interesting individual. Most of us know him as the creator of Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show. Which are all shows that have been turn-offs for alot of people because of how offensive the humour in those shows can be. The same thing can also be said of his first and third live action feature films, Ted (2012) and Ted 2 (2015). I was one of those people who disliked his work because of how bad Family Guy got with the jokes that went on for too long and the ones that were just really offensive. However, I've come to respect and appreciate him and his work through the time I've spent with it while watching the first three seasons of The Orville, a show that most see as a parody of Star Trek, but is actually so much more than that.

I vaguely remember seeing the TV spots for A Million Ways to Die in the West while I was watching TV, usually Arrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother. But otherwise I didn't hear anything about the movie since I wasn't watching general movie reviews on YouTube at this point in time. And after doing a search for reviews of the movie on YouTube, I didn't find any beyond four that were really negative. So it's probably just as well that I didn't watch those reviews back in the day because it would've turned me off this movie more than I already was given my perceptions of it due to it being a Seth MacFarlane movie that came out at a time where I had gotten over my initial enjoyment of Family Guy and American Dad and wasn't inclined to check out anything else made by him after having seen Ted the year before this movie came out.

Fast forward to last weekend, I was at a thrift store with Brad and I found this movie on DVD and being that it was cheap, I decided to pick it up being that my tune had changed about Seth and his work due to having watched all three seasons of The Orville, and having watched seasons 1 and 2 all the way through twice. Honestly, I really enjoyed it. Sure, there were some jokes that were...uncomfortable, but unlike with Blazing Saddles (1974), the uncomfortable jokes are meant to highlight the problems that westerns had when they were being made in the '50s and '60s, where the Indigenous people, or "Indians" as they were called back then, were almost always the villains of the westerns of that period. Thankfully that's not the case here, otherwise this would be a very different review.

The cast is pretty great. You have Seth MacFarlane as Albert Stark, a sheep farmer, Liam Neeson as the villain, Clinch Leatherwood, Charlize Theron as Anna, Albert's love interest/Clinch's wife, Amanda Seyfried as Albert's ex-girlfriend, Louise, Neil Patrick Harris as Louise's new boyfriend, Foy, who owns what would be the equivalent of a modern day hair salon, Giovanni Ribisi as Albert's best friend, Edward, and Sarah Silverman as Edward's girlfriend, Ruth. The only performance that I felt wasn't great was Neil Patrick Harris's. Normally he's one of my favourite actors in any movie or TV show I see him in, but Foy felt like a 19th Century version of his character from How I Met Your Mother, Barney Stinson, being that this movie was filmed in the summer of 2013, which was between seasons 8 and 9 of How I Met Your Mother. So it felt like that Neil Patrick Harris was just playing Barney here and that kinda sucked. Especially since Barney's role in that show is extremely problematic. At least in the early seasons of the show. So I ended up not enjoying his performance in this movie as I usually do.

Also, I keep forgetting just how many movies Amanda Seyfried has been in because, while she isn't this huge movie star, she pops up every now and then in a movie that's high profile enough for her to be talked about. Mean Girls (2004) was her film debut, and that's the first movie I ever saw her in, though, until this movie, I haven't seen any of her other movies, as she tends to be in ones that I have no interest in. She's still a good actress though, and I enjoyed her performance in this movie.

My favourite scene in this movie is a very brief one, where Albert is passing a barn and sees flashing light coming from it. He goes to investigate and sees an older man trying to place a tarp over a very recognizable car. Yes my friends, Christopher Lloyd appears as Doc Brown from Back to the Future, with the De Lorean. Being that the Back to the Future Trilogy and this movie were released by Universal Studios, it was easy for MacFarlane to put Doc Brown and the De Lorean in this movie. And because Back to the Future Part III (1990) takes place in 1885, only three years after this movie takes place, it's easy to place this scene during Back to the Future Part III.

The DVD, which was released on October 17th, 2014, is pretty decent for a 2014 DVD release. And by decent, I mean that it actually has bonus features on it. There's no deleted scenes, but there is a gag reel, a commentary track, and a ten minute behind the scenes featurette. The Blu-ray has more bonus features obviously, but this isn't too bad compared to other DVD releases that came out around the same time this one did.

Overall, I really enjoyed A Million Ways to Die in the West. It's not the best movie ever, nor is it my favourite, but it was fun with a good cast and an interesting premise. Of course humour is subjective, and this movie isn't for everyone. But if you're into these kinds of movies, and you haven't seen this one yet, definitely give it a chance. Especially if you're a fan of Seth MacFarlane's work, be it his animated shows like Family Guy, the Ted movies, or The Orville.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back on Wednesday with the next installment of my Marvel Comics Star Trek overview, where I'll be taking a look at Marvel's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comic book series. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.