A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a gleefully disrespectful love letter to classic Westerns, the kind that rides into town with a straight face and then starts heckling every dusty tradition in sight. Seth MacFarlane’s humor is broad, crude, and unapologetically modern, but it’s buoyed by real comic timing and a surprisingly sweet undercurrent as Charlize Theron brings effortless charm and confidence to the story’s offbeat romance. The movie’s best pleasures come from its lively cast, its shameless sight gags, and the constant reminder that the Old West was less “mythic” than “absurdly hazardous,” all delivered with a playful, anything-goes vibe. If you don’t enjoy R-rated raunch and relentless joking, it may wear thin—but if you’re in the mood for a rowdy Western spoof with a big heart and a bigger mouth, it’s an easy good time.

A Million Ways to Die in the West is trying to mash up a classic Western with Seth MacFarlane’s anything-goes, joke-every-ten-seconds sensibility, and when a gag lands, it can be shamelessly funny. The problem is it’s overlong and meanders like it’s stalling for time, with hit-or-miss bits that feel scattershot rather than building momentum. If you don’t enjoy MacFarlane’s on-screen persona, crude sex-and-body-humor, and constant profanity, this will test your patience fast. Still, Charlize Theron brings some charm and the setting looks great, so if you’re basically here for raunchy sketches in cowboy boots, you’ll get what you came for.