A Million Ways to Die in the West Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: A Million Ways to Die in the West
Year: 2014
Director: Seth Macfarlane
Country: US
Language: English

"Hey Liam Neeson is in it! It can't be that bad," said the critic, who forgot that Neeson has been in a dozen piss-poor movies since the actor's masterful performance in Stephen Spielberg's Oscar Winning tear-fest Schindler's List (1993). My hopes were definitely low for Seth Macfarlane's comedy western, especially considering I'm a big fan of Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. Surely they would be on a different level in terms of satire, but would I at least enjoy A Million Ways to Die in the West?

Seth Macfarlane stars as a cowardly farmer, who begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, however he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival.

I did enjoy Macfarlane's Allen-like neurotic tendencies, as the character is completely aware of how filthy and disgusting the old American West is, I also thought the conflict between Sarah Silverman and her husband was somewhat funny, and could have gone a more humorous direction if they weren't dropped completely from the story mid-way in. Other than that A Million Ways to Die is not worth seeing. It is filled to the brim with poop jokes that aren't funny and has a western cliche around every corner. I could see the entire film played out in front of me within the first five minutes (coward gets girl, boyfriend gets mad, coward turns hero). For a two hour film this is BAD. 

Macfarlane doesn't know when to kill his jokes. When he thinks a pun works, he will use it over and over. Even his meta-awareness gets old after a while. I get it! Everything will kill you in the West! The Director forgets to set up the jokes and as a result it all falls flat. It's almost as if Macfarlane is begging his audience laugh, because pity laughs are the only kind of chuckle he will get. Even worse, his characters have no depth. We must connect with his cowardly main character if the film is to be successful, but there's nothing to him. 

In conclusion, I can't guarantee that A Million Ways to Die in the West is the worst comedy of 2014, but it certainly is one of the worst. This movie makes Family Guy seem like television for geniuses. Only a complete dunce with no direction makes a bad comedy that's 2hrs long. Piss on it! 0.5/5