Albert is befriended by Anna, along with her "brother" Lewis who are new to Old Stump, and she who is self-admittedly "smokin' hot". . The central idea of A Million Ways isn't exactly a bad one. Seth MacFarlane might've picked a safer place to make his lead-acting debut than A Million Ways to Die in the West, his directorial follow-up to 2012's surprisingly successful Ted.The . The comparison does not do A Million Ways to Die in the West much good, but it also reminds us that it's been 20 years between drinks in a genre that is anything but crowded. While both filmmakers brought modern dialogue to an historic setting, Macfarlane doesn't do anything constructive with this conceit. It is equally possible to enjoy it for the supporting cast, who work overtime to do their best in spite of the material. A Million Ways To Die In The West Soundtrack Music by Joel McNeely - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Like a lot of American comedians, Macfarlane treats the film as an excuse to play a version of himself in which his ability to wisecrack trumps all other ideas or plot considerations. Production designer: Stephen J. Lineweaver Is this funny? Just as was with Ted, so it is with Macfarlane's second film, A Million Ways to Die in the West (hereafter A Million Ways). After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. Even as a self-described non-dancer, MacFarlane knows how to assemble the right team for a showstopper. A Million Ways to Die in the West: Official Clip - Sh**ty Showdown, A Million Ways to Die in the West: Official Clip - You Really Do Have a Death Wish. Still, there's always Ted 2 to look forward to. Burned to death (1) 7. Seth MacFarlane mightve picked a safer place to make his lead-acting debut than A Million Ways to Die in the West, his directorial follow-up to 2012s surprisingly successful Ted. Seth Macfarlane has rapidly become of the most divisive comedians of the modern era. When the rivalry leads to a duel, he gets help from an unexpected, beautiful source. Crushed by ice (1) 4. The point of this comparison is that Macfarlane has clearly gone to town thinking of as many throwaway gags with a Western aspect as he can. have made him as successful as the creators of The Simpsons, earning him millions of fans and an equal number of critics, both professional and public. In A Million Ways to Die in the West, the town pastor regales of the time he killed a man in a duel and then went to that man's home and proceeded to murder his 16-year-old son. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. There's a scene in Seth MacFarlane's animated sitcom Family Guy in which the precocious baby Stewie attempts to get his mom's attention through a solid 30 seconds of just repeating her name or variations on the word "mom." 116 minutes. Apple Inc. That's MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West in a nutshell: A constant assault of repetitive jokes designed to wear the viewer down, without much to say in the end. As it is, it looks and feels for all the world like the writer plucked the resolution out of his arsw, shoehorned the plot around it and then explained it to death, killing the joke in the process. Mild-mannered sheep farmer Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) feels certain that the Western frontier is trying to kill him, then he loses his girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), to the town's most successful businessman. The great comedy westerns of old, like Blazing Saddles, soared because their stories and characters worked on their own merits without them having to constantly try and be funny. Read critic reviews. Comedy Western As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his newly found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival. It opens . (Just as well, perhaps, as the screenplay is about to run out of ways to poke fun at the fact that Alberts buddy Edward is a virgin in a chaste relationship with Ruth, the towns busiest whore.) If we disregard the jokes for the moment - difficult as that may be - we find ourselves coming back to the issue with the characters. In A Million Ways, Macfarlane has set his sights far lower than Brooks did even at his low point in the 1990s. Copyright 2023 The image is an example of a ticket confirmation email that AMC sent you when you purchased your ticket. Albert Takes a Trip (33:36 - 37:38) 16. He deconstructs his own joke while he's telling it, insulting our intelligence and bringing the pace of the scene to a grinding halt. A Million Ways to Die in the West: Official Clip - That's a Dollar Bill! Cinematographer: Michael Barrett Copyright Fandango. 18 Songs, 41 minutes Constantly terrified, the meek and lily-livered sheep farmer, Albert Stark, mainly struggles to stay out of trouble in dusty and dangerous 1880s Arizona, utterly convinced that everything out there can and will kill him. the dandy proprietor of the local mustache shop, played with . His direction is to westerns what Chris Columbus was to Harry Potter, with the camera remaining so static that we can tell when a joke is being set up just by looking at a given shot for more than a second. Had Macfarlane put in the hard yards, showing the growing ingenuity and self-respect of Albert, this development would have made much more sense and felt cathartic. Instead, we get everything that crossed their minds. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. Seth MacFarlane, who wrote and directed A Million Ways to Die in the West, stars as Albert, a cowardly sheep farmer who inadvertently falls in love with the wife (Charlize Theron) of a dangerous outlaw (Liam Neeson). For some, he is a witty, ingenious writer and performer with a gift for puncturing egos; for others, he is nasty, derivative, mean-spirited and crass, whose work lacks the narrative coherency of his betters. (Original Title - A Million Ways to Die in the West). Comedy. A million ways 2 die in the west is one of the best western comedy's I ever seen. I'LL HAVE TO WATCH IT AGAIN TO GET THE QUICK STUFF, BUT REAL FUNNY. Whether because his energies are too thinly spread or because he has no real talent at all, he comes up short in every aspect. A Million Ways to Die in the West: Official Clip - He Drank the Whole Bowl! Just confirm how you got your ticket. A Million Ways to Die in the West: Official Clip - He Drank the Whole Bowl! There are so many gags being thrown at you that some are bound to stick in a disposable way, and for newcomers to the comedy western sub-genre, there are worse places in which one could start (Wagons East, for example). Coming Soon. Mustache maneuvers are not to be found in Harris current role on Broadway, where he stars as a transgender punk performer in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. In fact, the role requires near-total hairlessness from the actor. Although she states otherwise, the shoot-out is arguably the last straw for Louise, Albert's vain girlfriend, who breaks up with him. Welcome to the Quantum Realm. Box Office: Michael B. 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Main Title (2:31 - 5:05)3. Listen to A Million Ways To Die In the West (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Edition] by Joel McNeely on Apple Music. A Million Ways to Die in the West (Unrated). However, a beautiful, pistol-packing woman named Anna (Charlize Theron) rides into town and helps Albert find his inner courage. Underneath all the buffoonery and fart jokes, there was a believable relationship between Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, who were part of a story with genuine tension, stakes and even pathos. Albert, in turn, has to decide when he will become a real man in doing what he needs for what, or who, he truly wants in life. Editor: Jeff Freeman Its central premise and its cast both have undoubted potential, but every good idea it has is quickly ground down into third-rate physical or scatalogical jokes which are poorly directed, have no staying power, and are offensive for all the wrong reasons. 1, Independence Day: Resurgence (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Hail, Caesar! Apple Inc. Seth MacFarlane writes, directs and stars in this Western about a sheep farmer who falls in love with an outlaw's wife. The actors theatrical dance training came in handy, too, particularly during the films "Mustache Song" scene. 3:06. You can imagine him sitting in a writers' meeting for hours, writing down every funny thing that occurred to him and ticking them off a huge list as he tried to fit them all in. ", The Oscars Broadcast, Zooming Way Past Cheeky To Land Squarely On Crass, Not My Job: 'Family Guy' Creator Seth MacFarlane. If You've Only Got a Moustache. All creative projects are about choice, and more than anything else, A Million Ways to Die in the West comes off as an abdication of creative choice. Albert Stark, a mild mannered sheep farmer living outside of Old Stump, Arizona, hates everything about living in this time and place, especially the literally million ways he and others can easily die every day without a care, from shoot-outs, to bar brawls, to bites by rattlesnakes hiding in outhouses, to affliction by any one of numerous untreatable plagues and pestilences. IE 11 is not supported. Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Neil Patrick Harris, Sarah Silverman, Liam Neeson 2014. (The preceding sentence contains more Western-ese than the entire script MacFarlane wrote with Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, which instead dates itself with lines like Oh, snap! Oh no I did-uhnt! and douche.), STORY:Inside the Million Ways to Die in the West Premiere. Is this funny? It was lots of, like, steps and turns, Harris said vaguely, raising his lower legs and twisting his feet outward. A Million Ways to Die in the West is a disappointingly scattershot affair which will entertain Macfarlane fans but leave the rest of us with half-remembered frustration.
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