A Million Ways to Die in the West - A film of two halves

Seth McFarland.  If you don’t know who he is, you really should do your research on his humour before you decide whether you want to watch ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West.’ And, a good place to start would be his main hit TV show ‘Family Guy’ or his first cinematic outing ‘Ted.’ Whichever you choose, you will find some pretty crude humour, making sure that as many people are offended as possible.

So, assuming you’re okay with that sort of humour, you may want to give his new film a chance.  Yes, it’s packed full of the same ‘style’ of jokes, so you’ll need to be pretty broadminded to get the laughs.  This time, instead of simply voicing a foul-mouthed teddy bear (ala Ted), McFarland plays the leading man – a mild-mannered sheep farmer in the (very wild) west.

The first half of the movie doesn’t have a lot of story to it.  McFarland sort of takes us on a tour of his world.  It’s basically the same wild west that we’ve seen in a dozen westerns, only this time McFarland makes it different by appearing like a modern day man, making fun of the time period’s clichés.  But, although the first half isn’t exactly a classic tale in itself, it is pretty funny and I was really enjoying it.

Then the second half came.  McFarland then falls in love with the wife of the local bad guy.  Now he must fight to survive, while at the same time winning her over.  Yes, there is a story (hardly inspiring, but a story nonetheless), but the jokes suffer for the plot to get to A to B.

Basically, episodes of ‘Family Guy’ are only just over twenty minutes long.  Shows that short find it easy to pack joke after joke in.  Even ‘Ted’ managed to be funny throughout its entire runtime (even if it was effectively a one-joke movie).  However, ‘A Million Ways...’ just doesn’t cut it.  Fans of McFarland (like myself) will generally enjoy it, so I didn’t think I’d wasted my time.  It’s just the film will never be as successful as much of his other work, namely because it’s not generally funny enough all the way through to attract more than die-hard fans.

I’d watch it again in a few years time.  The jokes will be fresh again by then.  Although I couldn’t promise not to end up playing with my phone during the second half.  After a second watch, the second half did seem to be a little better than I originally remember it.  However, the first half is by far the funnier and I won't spoil anything by mentioning the couple of truly hilarious cameos who pop up just when you're least expecting them.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that