‘I’ ON CULTURE
The new Seth MacFarlane movie A Million Ways to Die in the West has plenty of jokes that should make you laugh. For those who enjoy Family Guy on TV or the film Ted, you know what to expect: many lines about body emissions and drugs, and a cynic’s eye to just about everything. I laughed a lot at the movie even while recognizing that, frankly, it was weak.
Of course, as a send-up to westerns, it has to be compared to Blazing Saddles, and when that happens, it really falls short. Mel Brooks had the courage of his convictions: His movie, which focused on race relations, could be and often was gross, but had a warmhearted feel to it. Bits like the eating beans scene were gross, but the focus far more often was on the relationship of the black sheriff to white settlers. Also, the performers were all superb.
Things are different in this new movie. Albert (MacFarlane) is a real loser, a sheep herder who has almost no control over his sheep. He is a coward and a sniveler. The only thing he has in his life is pretty schoolmarm Louise (Amanda Seyfried), who breaks off with him after he refuses to take part in a gunfight, letting her romance the richest man in town, Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), who runs the local moustacherie. That means a place that focuses on products for mustaches.
Then a new woman rides into town, Anna (Charlize Theron), who likes Albert’s gentleness. They become friends and she teaches him how to shoot, never mentioning that she is actually married to Clinch (Liam Neeson), the most vicious killer in the territory, who is somewhere on the run. It seems she married him when she was 9 because her parents were afraid she’d “be one of those 15-year-old spinsters.” Eventually, Albert comes to realize that Louise is simply a user, and Anna realizes she loves the gentle Albert. Along the way to his final confrontation, Albert manages to do some drugs, have a wild (and very funny) drug-induced dream, and deal with some more or less friendly Indians.
The biggest problem in the movie, aside from a script that meanders as a way of bringing in extraneous jokes, is MacFarlane’s acting. He seems out of time and place in the Old West, which is very distracting. Also, he really is not much of an actor. His best scenes are with Theron, and those mostly focus on their relationship. Theron is great; she steals most of the scenes and looks wonderful. Harris is great as the foppish mustache man; he leads a great dance scene that actually uses an old Stephen Foster song, The Mustache Song, as its base. Seyfried is fine; Neeson is good.
There is a dumb subplot about Albert’s best friends: Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) and Ruth (Sarah Silverman). He is a virgin waiting for marriage before they have sex, while she is the leading hooker in town. He knows what she is doing, and she occasionally leaves him for a while so she can do her job. Ribisi was his usual rabbity best, and Silverman was a real skank. And they got almost no laughs from the audience.
But, again, the real problem was the out-of-place comments through MacFarlane. Brooks, in his classic film, clearly had a modern perspective but kept a unity of vision through most of the movie. We knew he used a modern sensibility even through his gross humor, but it was a unitary one that made it funny. MacFarlane’s persona and comments were essentially the only things out of place, and that proved a vital flaw. Commenting on the chemicals some miners breathed brought in modern science, which got mixed in with a fart joke.
I laughed a lot. There are great and funny lines in the film. Harris was brilliant, Theron marvelous. A few of the set pieces like the fair (where people always die) and the dance were great, and the dream sequence was hysterical.
MacFarlane would do better in the future to let real actors perform and might consider trying a seminar from Brooks. In many ways, he is a student of that comic master.
I will recommend the movie as a nice break from the overblown superhero films. You will enjoy it, and it is worth the price of tickets. But it’s a shame it is not better.
