If you are not a Seth MacFarlane fan..I would ask you WHY NOT?  The man is funny..”Family Guy” is funny.. “Ted” was hysterical!! And “A Million Ways to Die in the West” follows suit.  But I will warn you, if you don’t like his humour, you might not like this movie as it’s ALL him.  It’s his first ‘acting’ gig and we all know usually he is ‘animated’ or the ‘voice of’ etc etc.. But here he is the lead playing “Albert Stark” a sort of cowboy who is a sheep farmer (yes, be prepared for the bad, but funny sheep jokes/skits) and what he thinks is the love of his life, Louise “Amanda Seyfried” has just left him for Mr.Mustache as I call him, Foy “Neil Patrick Harris”.  In order to win her back he calls Foy out for a ‘duel’ even though he is basically the town oaf and can’t even shoot a gun.  Well step in Anna “Charlize Theron” to help save the day and teach him how to shoot and not exactly tell him who she is, which is the wife of the baddest gunfighter in the West, Clinch Leatherwood “Liam Neeson”  

Basically the plot is nothing to write home about as it’s 1882 in the West and of course their are a Million Ways to Die, snakes, disease, gunfights, or even the doctor can kill you..with a nail in the ear or a Bluejay!! 🙂  And they mostly speak in terms we use today, only the real ‘cowboys’ use old West lingo and there are so many innuendos to be made which make it really funny so pay attention to catch them all and the cameos!!! 

So bottom line, of course Albert and Anna fall in love while she is helping him learn to shoot as she is a crack shot ~ but of course and blah blah blah with that part of the plot. Though it completely sticks to form when he’s counting out the ‘Millions of Ways to Die in the West” in a fun scene with Edward “Giovanni Ribisi” and his ‘girlfriend’ Ruth “Sarah Silverman” ~ who is really a prostitute though they can’t have sex as they are saving themselves for marriage which in of itself makes for some funny one-liners. The movie has a some really beautiful scenic shots and few serious moments that I didn’t expect, but then it also majorly delivers some downright raunchy, gross out scenes that we’ve come to expect from Seth MacFarlane and right smack in the middle of it, one of the BEST scenes EVER will bring you back to the future.. 😀

Oh yeah..and if you’re looking for it to not offend and be perfectly PC..then again, you don’t know MacFarlane’s style because he is NEVER either of those. Seth’s acting is okay..it’s not great by any means but as we all found out one day a few years back that he is so damn cute it’s hard not to like him.  Charlize does okay in a comedic turn, as much as I love her, nothing to write home about in this performance but definitely nice to see her doing some fun stuff as you can tell she’s having a good time! Liam Neeson with his deadpan and yes, accented character is spot on. And for those that say, how can he have his Irish accent in a Western.. well..Hellloooo.. back then more people had accents as in case we forgot our history, we are a country of immigrants so it fits perfectly in.  Also, if you are quick enough to spot a very famous Scotsman in a cameo about a 1/4 of the way through, and a few other good cameos in between, and of course at the end..well..I say good job Seth. 

I realize this movie isn’t getting rave reviews because the critics love to bash his brand of comedy because it’s not the norm..I love things that are not the norm and this movie is funny..much funnier than it’s comedic predecessor “Neighbors” in my opinion. Let’s put it this way, It’s definitely worth paying to see. 

Grade: B-

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