If you like Seth MacFarlane, you’ll like this. Otherwise, you probably won’t. But if you can find the inner Mel Brooks in MacFarlane, it might be worth your money and your time.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Sarah Silverman, Giovanni Ribisi, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried) – Seth MacFarlane’s career is a mystery to anyone over age 40. Heck, it might be a mystery to him! The king of animation, McFarlane is the genius behind Fox’s “animation domination” with series like The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and American Dad! Don’t watch them? – me either. But your kids do. MacFarlane’s turn as the host of the Oscars was, in my opinion, a disaster. No one in the TV audience, which skews old, knew him.
MacFarlane pushed the envelope in A Million Ways to Die in the West. It is a raunchy, gag-a-minute, f**kfest filled with scatological references, sexual language, perversion and grossness. To a whole generation of people, this apparently defines humor. I, an increasingly old codger who thinks the last great animation project was Aladdin, just don’t get it.
So I searched for a way to appreciate this film and its star/writer/producer/ director, Seth MacFarlane. The answer is Mel Brooks. Yes, Mel Brooks.
Brooks made his name in television, like MacFarlane. He wrote and occasionally acted in some of the most famous shows of the “golden era” of television: Your Show of Shows, Caesar’s Hour, and Get Smart. His 2000-Year-Old Man routine with Carl Reiner debuted on the old Steve Allen Show and remains a comedy legend. That TV success gave him the platform to transform the movie business. Through a series of unparalleled spoofs, ranging from Young Frankenstein to Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World: Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, he created an entire genre of film exploited later by Kennan Ivory Wayans in I’m Gonna Get You Sucka, Don’t Be A Menace …, the first two Scary Movie pics, White Chicks, and TV’s ground-breaking In Living Color.
I always thought that you had to be patient with Brooks’ films (Woody Allen’s, too), putting up with five or ten almost funny things to get to the golden moments. And when those magic moments came, the waiting was all worth it. Like stand-up comedy, many of the jokes don’t work but they set up the one, two or three hysterical laughs to come. Forty years ago (Happy Anniversary, Mel), Brooks broke the mold and decided to write, direct, and act in a spoof of old fashioned Westerns in the legendary Blazing Saddles, a movie that looked authentic, sounded authentic, but was an all-out parody.
MacFarlane’s A Million Ways … is practically plagiarism. Like with all of Brooks’ movies, you may have to sit through 20 not-so or almost funny bits to get to magic. And yourfavorite moments might not be mine. If you don’t like references (visual and otherwise) to urination, defecation, and regurgitation, you might not like this movie. If you don’t like the “f” word, save your money. If you are not into slapstick, bloody violence, you might want to stay home. But if you like that stuff, kids, or if you can get past that, there are really a lot of laughs in here.
MacFarlane stars as Albert, a lousy sheep farmer misplaced in the frontier. He is a wise guy with a 21st century speech pattern in a late 19th century world. He is a sad sack. He never gets the girl, even the one he has been dating for a year-and-a-half (Louise, played by Amanda Seyfried), can’t shoot a gun, is unloved at home, and doesn’t have a moustache (you’ll understand the reference if you see the film). His friends, Edward and Ruth, are losers, played by Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman, as his tart-talking prostitute-with-a-heart girlfriend. This set-up ought to be enough but we need tension. So along comes the bad guys, led by Clinch (Liam Neeson), the meanest, toughest, most ruthless gun in the West. He kills indiscriminately and is headed for Old Stump, the prairie town that serves as the setting of the film. In advance, he sends one of his men and his wife, Anna. Charlize Theron, gorgeous as ever, plays Anna in the best performance of the film. I kept asking myself, “What is she doing in this movie?” She befriends Albert, teaches him to shoot when he gets sideways with the rich owner of the moustache shop, Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), and becomes the new love interest (my, does she make Amanda Seyfried look plain).
The story moves from here but the plot is irrelevant. We know how it will end; it’s a Western. But the gags are everywhere. A few hit; most miss. A Million Ways is a guilty semi-pleasure. The soundtrack is fantastic: big, booming sound, very Western (a little like Django Unchained with a cameo to boot). The cinematography is beautiful; this is an expensive flick.
Now the question: Should you see it? If you are a fan of MacFarlane, go this week. If you don’t know who he is, I am guessing you should stay home. If you don’t like excrement on the screen, don’t think about it. But if you love Mel Brooks, are willing to wade through the muck to pan the gold, and like to be entertained, A Million Ways to Die in the West is worth it.