Fish and Cherries Productions

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a frustrating movie to talk about because it had some major, unavoidable, unforgivable flaws and just as many redeeming moments. Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Quite a few of the jokes fall flat or serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever, like the bewildering cameo by Doc Brown that comes out of nowhere and is never mentioned again. On top of that, the movie eschews comedy for action and drama in the third act to its detriment, the main girl not only becomes a shoehorned love interest when she and McFarlane’s character worked much better as friends, but also a dumbass in distress at the end, and the movie plays the standard coming-into-your-own story far too straight than a comedy like this should. But are their good parts? Absolutely. The humor is spot on when it’s not trying to mine gross out or shock humor, particularly in the middle section and about the time period, Neil Patrick Harris is enjoyable as always, and the songs are incredibly fun, because if nothing else, MacFarlane is a superb musician. Despite the laughs, though, I just found myself incredibly bored, and for a comedy, that’s just about the worst thing you can say.