Good evening ladies and gents :)
It's been a while since my last movie review, and I've decided enough is enough.
I've been going to the movies a lot more lately (awesome), so hopefully they'll become a little more frequent.
Let's do this :)
Today, we're going to talk about
A Million Ways To Die In The West.
Starring: Seth MacFarlane (like, ALL of him, not just his voice ;), Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Sarah Silverman, Giovanni Ribisi, Amanda Seyfried and Neil Patrick Harris.
This is the latest movie from Seth MacFarlane, who is best known for creating Family Guy and American Dad! I did a review of Ted a couple years ago, (check it out
here) and I'm going to start this review the same way I started that one:
I love Seth MacFarlane.
I think he is hilarious and awesome and I love everything that he does.
And yes, Family Guy definitely has its "dumb" moments, but I still love it.
My friend and I were both REALLY excited to see this movie, until we saw the rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It was 33%. THIRTY THREE PERCENT.
That's just less than a third, effectively crushing our hopes for this movie. But we aren't quitters, and we went this weekend anyway.
The story follows a simple sheep farmer named Albert (Seth MacFarlane) dealing with the dangers of life on the frontier. As an intelligent (yet slightly cowardly) man living among a vast group of gun slinging hotheads, Albert does his best to avoid confrontation. But when his long term girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) leaves him for another man (Neil Patrick Harris), Albert has to man up to try to win her back. With the help of a mysterious new town resident (Charlize Theron), Albert starts to learn how to settle a feud in the old west.
Giovanni Ribisi plays his supportive yet awkward best friend Edward, who is dating Sarah Silverman's character Ruth, a prostitute at the local saloon.
Let me start with the good stuff.
Seth MacFarlane was HILARIOUS. I was kind of nervous to see how he would do actually physically starring in a movie, but he did not disappoint. It's so funny because you've heard him laugh and yell and get angry before, but now you get to see
the facial expressions that go with the voice. I'm really really hoping that he'll be in more movies from now on. Seriously guys he's hysterical.
Charlize Theron actually did a great job too. I sound surprised not because she's a bad actress (because she's not) but because I couldn't picture her in Seth's slapstick / silly brand of comedy. But she and Seth actually had great chemistry, and I really liked her character.
Something that I love about Family Guy is all the random references that are neatly tucked into each of the episodes. I was so excited to find out that this movie does the exact same thing! I'm not going to give them away, but there are awesome little easter eggs all throughout the movie :)
But sadly, the movie wasn't perfect :/
I really REALLY didn't like the bits about Edward and Ruth, which is really sad because I really like Sarah Silverman and Giovanni Ribisi.
It was just too raunchy.
As I've mentioned before, Ruth works as a prostitute that's involved with Edward, an innocent love struck shoe repairman. Ruth, although very kind and "innocent" herself, is very popular at the saloon and isn't shy about what goes on during business hours. Edward continues to be supportive of his girlfriend's career, even though he is constantly reminded of what she does all day. I don't want to go into a ton of detail but let's just say an older couple left the theater about 10 minutes in. Yeah.
They were both great friends to Albert, and the scenes they did as a group were fine, it's just when they're alone and talking about sex that it's just too much for me.
My friend and I both agreed that this movie definitely didn't get the credit it deserved and were pleasantly surprised by how funny it really was.
Overall, I'm going with 4 stars :)
I'd recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys various types of comedy.
Bear in mind that like Family Guy and Seth's other shows, it contains both clever and simple humor. There are fart jokes and gross out moments and stuff that is just funny for the sake of being funny. If this isn't your thing, you may not like it as much as I did.
I hope you enjoyed this review :)
I'll see you soon!
