Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane graduated to movie-mogul status with 2012’s Ted, a boffo hit he scripted and directed. For a guy who can write his own ticket at the moment, he made an interesting choice for a follow-up: a Western. Sort of a Western, anyway. Not exactly a Blazing Saddles-style spoof, and certainly not a straight oater, A Million Ways to Die in the West is a very odd comedy.
MacFarlane himself plays the central role, a tenderfoot sheep rancher by the name of Albert Stark. Albert lives in a crummy little town in the vicinity of Monument Valley, whose cinematically hallowed buttes are in as many shots as MacFarlane can manage.