I am tempted to say the musical score was my favorite part of this film, but is hardly fair to the rest of it, which was a hilariously clever and raunchy romp through the dangers of the old west. A Million Ways to Die in the West (it really does focus on all the ways to die, by the way) is indeed witty but vulgar; intelligent while juvenile; dead-pan sarcastic at the same time as slapstick funny. If you cannot tell, yes, I giggled and chuckled and groaned and grimaced my way through two hours of absolute fun.
Let me warn you, though, this movie will not appeal to all. Seth MacFarlane is unique. The clever humor seen in The Family Guy permeates this movie too. A Million Ways likewise thumbs its nose at religion and its too-oft-inevitable hypocrisy, and it slides in political commentary subtly but smartly. The bathroom humor is present for those who need a dose of adolescent potty jokes, and for those who still look to There’s Something About Mary for your debauchery-laced giggles, well, you will *not* be disappointed with A Million Ways to Die. (I, who wasn’t impressed with TSAM, giggled and groaned and probably even snorted in the ways MacFarlane slipped in this humor.)
I delighted in the way the movie takes contemporary conversations and plops them right in the middle of the barren 1880s. (“I have to break up with you; I need to work on myself.”) This, though, also means the profanity is slinging as much as fists do in a western saloon fight. A Million Ways to Die earns its rating and wears it proudly.
As much as I enjoyed this movie, the scenes that focused on domestic violence and sexual assault were too much. MacFarlane pushes the envelope regularly (and I was not at all offended by his “Boobs” number at the Oscars), but here, he crossed the line. Granted, there was no misplaced humor in the scenes; I’m sure I held my breath in fear he was going to try to make such funny. (And shame on the movie-goer in the theater who laughed at the domestic violence.) I hope as MacFarlane matures as a writer and creator he’ll learn how to tell a story of comedy even with a “bad guy” without devolving into using trigger scenes in an otherwise fun, all-out comedy.
MacFarlane isn’t a grand actor, but he’s good enough here, and I felt he cared about making this movie. (He has a fantastic ability at dead-pan comedy; I am tempted to see this movie again (but at SunRay, as I suspect it’ll be received differently there) to see how many jokes I missed.) I adored seeing Charlize Theron in a comedic role. Sarah Silverman plays her role familiarly (and with a twinkle in her eye). And Neil Patrick Harris seems to be unable to do anything poorly. Alas, Amanda Seyfried felt flat and boring. But Liam Neeson? Wow, he does evil in a way that had those bad guys in Taken seen him, his daughter never would have gone missing.
Oh, and that musical score? I wasn’t kidding: I loved it! It was wonderfully reminiscent of old westerns (and yes, Blazing Saddles among them) with giant swells of big orchestral movements, timpani drums for dramatic effect, and scene-setting tones.
(No, I didn’t really go against my norm of not seeing a movie on opening night; we were able to catch it during an early showing Thursday before the masses knew it’d been released. Yea!)