Film Review: A Million Ways to Die in the West

Genre: Comedy  Western  Warning this is Seth MacFarlane  sense of humor so expect the rude, sexual ,Outrageous concept.

Cert: 15 cert , but would say this was push toward a 18 cert in some scenes 

Director: Seth MacFarlane

Screen writer: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin , Wellesley Wild.

Starring: Seth MacFarlane , Charlize Theron , Amanda Seyfried ,Liam Neeson ,Giovanni Ribisi ,Neil Patrick Harris ,Sarah Silverman ,Christopher Hagen ,Wes Studi ,Matt Clark ,Evan Jones ,Aaron McPherson.

Running time: 116 min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: Frequent Sexual References and Suggestive Innuendos, including phrases like "I live inside of her..." and "I'm going to shoot a load at your cans".
Lots of scenes of implied sex.
Some of the women in the bar show a lot of cleavage.
One of the girls (played by Sarah Silverman) is a prostitute. She also flashes her crotch to her boyfriend.
A couple have sexual intercourse, but it's under the covers and nothing is shown.
There's a sheep's penis shown.
The villain's butt is seen and his wife puts a flower in it.

Violence & Gore:Only 2 bloody scenes and they are very brief
There are many funny ways that people are injured from practical things
At a county fair, a photographer shoots a portrait of a man and a woman, who explode into flames with the background scenery; the man and the woman wave their arms and jump as two other men shoot at them with rifles (no one is hit); the photographer falls to the ground in flames and we see his bloody, severed arm burning in close up.
A falling block of ice smashes a man's head as it knocks him to the ground; we see a lot of brown splatter shoot out in all directions and the corner of the ice block is seen to be covered in red blood on top of a smashed man's body (a hat, an arm and a leg are sticking out).
A bull charges an outdoor vendor and carries him off on its back, presumably dead.
A man lies dead in the street (for three days, we hear) and we see two wolves drag the body away at night; the next day, a dog retrieves a severed calf and foot from the body, a man throws it off-screen and we hear a woman scream loudly.
Bandits stop an elderly man, steal his gold and the ringleader shoots the old man in the chest, killing him (no blood) as he falls backward off screen.
A man sings what he says is an Islamic death chant and a bandit dies of snake venom that was in a bullet that grazed the bandit's arm (we see torn fabric); the wounded man stumbles and slurs his speech, then falls to the ground in the street and a man and a woman stand by the body and the woman says the man is dead.
Two men start a gunfight and one of the men backs out; the other man shoots the first man in the lower leg with a glancing shot, felling him (we see no blood, but there is a black bullet mark on his boot later).
During a shootout a man shoots another in the arm and we see torn fabric, while the other man shoots the first man's gun out of his hand.
Bandits chase a man across the desert on horseback, shooting but missing him and stop at a racing train, as the lone man dashes across the tracks; the bandits head back to town, enter a saloon and their ringleader threatens to kill more people after shooting a man in the chest at point blank range (the shot man falls dead, without blood showing).
Bandits point guns at people and threaten to kill several people around town in a few scenes; a woman says the ringleader will be the dead man one day; in a jail cell, one of the bandits beats up the sheriff and leaves him on the floor with a gash over the eye (could be alive or dead); the ringleader chokes a woman and she coughs, then chokes her again later and kisses her, making her cough louder until she picks up a large rock and slams it into the man's face (no blood), felling him and escaping.
A bandit threatens to shoot an elderly man's dog between the eyes.
Bandits go into a town and threaten to start killing people if anyone interferes with them.
Native Americans knock a man unconscious and tie him to a stake, but stop short of lighting fire to him.
A man shoots at a target on a door and his father comes through the door shooting a rifle but hitting nothing.
An extended fight sequence in a saloon shows men fighting with fists, broken chairs and broken liquor bottles (all objects broken over other men's heads); one man dies of a slit throat (we see a lot of blood flowing), another man has his head pounded into the bar several times while tables are overturned and men fall, one man is thrown into the street through the glass window, which shatters loudly, two women fight by pulling hair and pushing, and two men in a corner pretend to fight and one slugs the other in the jaw (no serious injuries seem to occur).
A woman dancing kicks a man in the face, without injury, but he falls.
During a hallucination (please see the Substance Use category for more details) five sheep on hind legs urinate into the air like a fountain as we see five penises and five streams of urine; a horde of dwarf bandits chases the man, shooting at but not hitting him; a large condor attacks him from the air and we see the bird's testicles as the man kicks it in the groin and a door handle changes into a snapping snake's head and back into a handle.
A man flatulates at a saloon table as he stands and falls dead, head first into the table with a loud crash.
A man stumbles and then suffers diarrhea on screen and we see him use two hats apparently to catch the feces as we hear a loud series of gurgles, flatulence and splats (we do not see feces until he knocks a hat over with his foot and we see what looks like a black and brown flow onto the ground).
A doctor holds a bird that pecks a bloody wound on a man's face to clean it.
A man stumbles and falls on his sheep ranch and in town on rough streets, is thrown through a large glass saloon window among loud shattering glass, is hit in the head twice with large dinner plates (falling to the ground and off a horse), falls over a short desert ledge and falls into a deep hole (we see the man's forehead cut slightly and bleeding a little in three scenes).
We hear that the local schoolteacher died when a passing tumbleweed slit her throat in front of children.
A man tells a woman that his dad is up on the hill, burying himself beside Mom.
Multiple spoken lists of ways to die in the Old West are made, for example: snake venom, charging bulls, bar brawls, gunfights, wild desert animals, falling ice blocks, cholera, small pox, larger pox, county fairs, photography explosions, prospecting, Indians, train wrecks, bad booze, desert heat, card games that end in shootouts, refusing to play cards, doctors that use blue jays to peck at wounds, bowel inflammation, and blood poisoning.
A woman teaches a man to shoot, but he cannot hit any of the bottles lined up on a rail fence and he slaps them to the ground with his arm in frustration; shooting at plates in the air, he misses and a plate hits him on the head, felling him without an apparent injury; the woman shoots with two pistols at a county fair shooting booth and wins a prize.
After the end credits, a man approaches a county fair shooting booth, shooting the operator dead (he falls backward, no blood) and walks away.

Profanity:  About 61 F-words and its derivatives, 2 obscene hand gestures, 5 sexual references, 34 scatological terms, 21 anatomical terms, 19 mild obscenities, 7 religious profanities (Goddamn) and 25 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh my God, Jesus Christ, My God, Oh God, God, Go with God, May God bless you, Jesus, Thank God and Good Lord.)
Name-calling (stupid, sheep farmer, sheepherder, sheepy, crazy, insane, idiot, weird, lazy, jerk, thief, nerd, tool, coward, schmuck, douche, cesspool and dirty-vulgar-deadly West) and exclamations (shut-up and heck.)
Stereotypical references to Native Americans, Christians, Asians, Muslims, African Americans, Jews, Methodists, western settlers, ranchers, prostitutes, saloon owners, gunslingers, town idiots and carnival vendors. 


Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: A man and a woman share a "pot cookie" (marijuana) and stare at a sunset while she giggles and he freaks out and shouts that a prairie dog can read his mind.
Our hero rolls up a cigarette.
A man suffers drug-intoxication at a Native American campfire and sees talking and dancing sheep.
A street vendor attempts to sell a tonic that contains alcohol and cocaine and morphine (no one buys it).
Several western saloon scenes feature shelves with bottles of whiskey behind the bar along with full glasses on the bar.
Tables in a saloon contain glasses and large mugs of beer and whiskey and we see men and a few women drink from their glasses while one woman pours beer from a bottle into a glass and drinks it in close-up.
A woman saloon boss drinks a shot of liquor in close-up.
A man drinks a large amount of whiskey and rides his horse and he hangs off the saddle.
A man and a woman drink from a large bottle of whiskey at night on a ranch.
A woman steals a bottle of whiskey and two glasses and has a drink with a man in a drinking contest (he chugs his whiskey more quickly than she does.)
Men and women sip from glasses of alcoholic beverages.
A man smokes a cigarette or small cigar in four saloon scenes as well as on a street and at a ranch.

A man puts his cigar into another man's glass of whiskey in a saloon scene.
A man smokes a cigarette for the first time and coughs violently.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: The deaths could be frightening to young children.

Story: As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival.

Likes : First of all i loved Ted thought is was completely funny, love the family guy series i think Seth MacFarlane is funny, but i didn't go into this thinking it was going to be an all out comedy film because in the trailers they only normal show the best parts of the film.
This wasn't as funny as i thought it was going to be but it does have the moments where you are seriously laughing your head off, Seth does a great job at acting in front of the camera but i get the feeling because this was he first time acting in a film where he playing a character & not a voice over he didn't quiet feel comfortable it kind of showed slightly, but he still manged to pull off the clumsy cowboy character which was good.
I would go as far as to say that this is more of romantic comedy than a straight out right comedy as the whole concept of this where a man get treated like a puppet get dump over something stupid & shallow meet a beautiful woman that she him for who he is & fall's in love that really is the romantic comedy of this, to be honest if you've every been in this situation sometime in your life im sure many of us have you can really relate to Seth character you find your self routing for the guy.
Despite the reviews this film is getting which i think is pretty unfair to be-honest because this is a clear example why you shouldn't go to a film with high exceptions & view a film just for what it is, because this film is really good despite the lack of comedy which isn't much but it has it moments that you will laugh you head off at. It kind of like the old Chevy chase & A darker version of blazing saddles sense of humor with the slap stick humor.
 I will say Liam neeson actuality suited the wild west concept as an out law, i think he would be good in a western film if they ever do one starting him, because he would be so perfect for that type of role. It would be a change from the usual role he play's all the time, its why this was a good role for him to cut the stereo type roles he seems to get even tho this seem to be a slight cameo role for him he brilliant in this film.
The beautiful Charlize Theron was brilliant with her role, her chemistry with Seth really showed on screen which made their characters more believable & funny, not to mention she looked amazing on screen as she suit the western theme as well, Neil Patrick Harris was a little over the top but not to much, but didn't really fit in this film that much & think Amanda Seyfried done a brilliant job with the shallow ex girlfriend of Seth character, as for the rest of the cast they all done a pretty good job in their part as well
This film is not going to be for everyone unless you like the movie's packed with R-rated humor that is ridiculous and over-the-top but some what funny at times, but i wouldn't go in to this film with high expectations because there isn't much comedy but does have the moment's but more of the romantic comedy aspect really.  

Dislikes : I think this film could of had more funny moment's, it was a little flat for a comedy but its was still a great film.

Overall : Great romantic concept that you can relate to, Some funny moments, Great acting

Rating: 5 out of 5 for entertainment / 8.5 out of 10 for romantic comedy/ some funny moments