A Million Ways to Die in the West (5/30/2014)

Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, language throughout, some violence and drug material.

Starring Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Charlize Theron, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman and Liam Neeson

Directed by Seth MacFarlane (Ted)

Note from Todd: At the Source for Youth Ministry, we believe in giving youth leaders and parents resources to impact the teenagers in their life. Make no mistake about it, A Million Ways to Die in the West is a R-rated film made FOR teenagers. It is offensive, inappropriate and not funny. This review is intended to help you have a conversation with your teens when they ask to go see it.

I was looking for A Million Ways to get out of the theater.

Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test.

For most of you reading that the film is rated R because of strong, crude and sexual content and language throughout would be enough to “Skip It.” But if we’re honest with ourselves, some of us have youth groups full of kids or teenagers in our homes that will want to go see this movie. So here’s what you need to know.

Seth MacFarlane is extremely talented and extremely raunchy. So there are scenes that are funny (most of them are in the trailer), but most of the time it’s one coarse joke after another.

In fact, A Million Ways to Die in the West can be summed up as a movie with a poor story and jokes that are intended to shock or offend rather than to amuse. While I’m sure fans will find something to appreciate, I personally found this to be the worst comedy since The Grudge Match and easily one of the worst of the year.

The funny thing is that A Million Ways to Die in the West starts out fairly promisingly. Like most westerns, the opening credits are in that classic western font with beautiful shots of the desert landscape and a decent musical score. Unfortunately, any hope I had for a halfway intelligent parody, or even homage, was killed off in a million different ways.

As the film goes on, it repeatedly sinks to the lowest hanging fruit, relying once again on the most immature jokes imaginable. To put things into perspective, a penis joke, gay joke and racist joke all appear within the first minute of Albert’s introduction, and the rest of the film never rises above it.

Take, for instance, the recurring jokes about a Christian prostitute “saving” herself for marriage. The joke isn’t funny the first two or three times, much less the 14th or 15th. At one point, a character makes a lousy joke and Albert turns toward the camera and asks why anyone would think that is funny, that actually made me laugh because I had been asking myself the same thing the entire movie.

A Million Ways to Die in the West is lazy, with jokes way too obvious and tasteless. It’s a “Coaster.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
NO!

Although no sex is shown, it is discussed throughout the film, often times in graphic detail.

There are about 61 F-words including a few obscene hand gestures, 34 S-words, and plenty of other obscenities. There are also several stereotypical references about Native Americans, Christians, Asians, Muslims, African Americans, Jews, western settlers, ranchers, prostitutes, saloon owners, gunslingers, town idiots and carnival vendors.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. Whether it is in the Wild West or today, death is inevitable. In fact, in Hebrews 9:27 it says, “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment.” What does that verse tells about life and death?


2. Read James 4:14
   
   How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog–it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
   
   Why do you think James uses “the morning fog” to describe life?


3. If life is really as short as the morning fog, what can we do to prepare for the afterlife?